Echelon
by Marimo
Summary: A certain female thief attempts to steal Van's energist. He won't let it go without a fight. As a result, the two are unwittingly swept into an adventure to save Gaea and they realize that even a thief and a king might just learn to get along, or to love.
1. Prologue

'Lo, all…Suicidal Hitomi here. I decided to star another Esca fic, Van/Hitomi, AU, and all that. My old fic, "Eternity Dragons", is on hold for now. I'm planning on either re-writing the whole thing or using the plot in another fic. Meh –shrugs- Sorry to anyone who wanted the next chapter :(

So here is fic attempt number 2! I do not own Escaflowne and whatnot. Please don't forget to review! I'm always up for suggestions, yo.

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Echelon

Prologue

* * *

The rumors were spreading. All over Fanelia, there was no one that hadn't heard a whisper of the latest gossip. The stories had even spread to Asturia. Everyone knew about it. Everyone knew about _her_.

She didn't have a nickname. She was simply called The Thief. For the past two weeks, ever since her first evening of eluding the castle guards, the Thief had been breaking into the Fanel castle every other night. She had not yet been caught. No one had even come close, including, rumor had it, the King himself. She would always manage to stay one step ahead, just out of reach, and she would, every time, steal away with something priceless or expensive that was property of the royal Fanelian family.

Although many glimpses of the elusive Thief had been caught, the description was not enough to satisfy the curious minds of the citizens of Fanelia. However, they were all more than happy to pick up where the simple descriptions had left off.

Some said she was a raven-haired beauty, seeking revenge for her lover, who had been killed by the King. Others claimed the Thief was a blonde, blue-eyed princess from the Mystic Moon and was acting on orders of her mysterious god. There were even stories that the girl was a simple farmer's daughter, vying for the attention of the young King in her desperate urge to declare her love for him. Strangely enough, all agreed that the Thief was in her early twenties. All stories seemed better that way, for she had now become a legend.

The original reports had almost been forgotten. The guards of Fanel castle had seen the Thief more than once. She's middle height, thin, and quick as a cat, they said. You can't see her face and she's always dressed in dark colored clothes. Even her hair is tied back. That was all they could see, because she never stayed around for long. A window, a door, she would always find a way out and disappear, leaving behind perplexed guards and a vacant chest or display case.

Such were the ways of the Thief.

Van Slanzar de Fanel let out a low sigh, tapping his sword butt idly against the back of the royal throne where he now sat, eyes closed. With another loud exhale, the eyelids slid open to reveal a pair of amber irises, moving slowly to look over the throne room for the tenth time, his patience running out.

Eight times. Eight times in total, the Thief had made a fool of him and run off with something or other from the castle. The last incident was still fresh in his mind.

"_OI! YOU!" Van yelled, running down the hall after the retreating figure in black. The Thief didn't turn but kept up her retreat, one hand holding the book she had just stolen from the royal library. It contained all of the Fanel ancestry, the family tree, and more importantly, the royal traditions and secrets that few out of the castle knew. And now the Thief would know. _

"_GET BACK HERE!" The young king yelled again, turning his speed up a notch as he went into a full out sprint. He had expected the masked girl to start running faster. He was wrong._

_He was caught completely off-guard when he saw the Thief turn around and wordlessly chucked the precious book at him. He skidded to a stop, his eyes wide as he saw the book soaring through the air. He managed to catch it but fumbled. He barely noticed the female burglar come forward, but certainly noticed when she ducked down and lashed out at his feet in an under sweep attack._

_Van was knocked off his feet, tumbling backwards as the book, to his dismay, fell from his hands, along with his sword. The attack was a surprise in more ways than one. Firstly, because the Thief had never approached him before, always running away. Now she freely attacked him. Secondly was that she had outsmarted him. Again._

_Growling, he tried to stand, but it was too late. The book, which had fallen to the floor nearby, had been picked up by a slender, pale hand. There was a soft laugh from the Thief. She stepped away from him, finding an unlocked window behind her, and, with the stealth of a cat, she opened it and climbed out. She paused on the sill for just a moment and Van caught a glimpse of a pair of bright jade eyes as he finally stood. _

"_Got you again, Van Fanel." And with that, she was gone, leaving Van to stare at an open window. The message had been enough. He was beaten. The King of Fanelia… beaten by a girl thief._

Holding back a growl as his mind automatically replayed that moment, he gripped his sheathed sword tightly until the leather gloves he wore creaked from pressure. He had one last chance, for the Thief was coming tonight. That's what his instincts told him.

Standing up, he walked out of the royal chamber room, just as the sun began to set and cast orange rays of light into the room. His steps were determined and his mouth set in a rigid line. _Tonight… tonight, the Thief is mine!

* * *

_

Hitomi Kanzaki sighed, sitting back in her chair as she gazed thoughtfully at the cards spread out in front of her. It was perplexing. Hoping to take her mind off of the reading, she cast a glance at her bed, where a book sat open, showing a part of the Royal Fanel Family Crest. That Van Fanel. He was getting cleverer by the day, it seemed. It had taken quick thinking to steal that silly, ancient book from that dusty library, and even then, she had barely gotten away.

A soft smile spread across her lips as she turned back to the cards. But get away she did, and, she had to admit, seeing that look on Van's face had been worth the trouble. In any case, her identity was still safe. The Thief was simply a dangerous girl. No one suspected 'Tomi Kanzaki, daughter of Fanel's bookkeeper to be involved in any sort of thing like that. To them, she was the quiet girl who loved to run and had a canny ability to tell fortunes through her tarot cards, nothing more.

But over the past few years, Hitomi had witnessed her friends take on jobs and find goals in life. Yukari was gone, as was Amano. Hitomi had taken to reading books more. Her companions laughed at this as they left one by one. Soon, only Hitomi was left, and that was probably where the whole thieving business came in. It had started off innocently enough when she had accidentally stumbled across a book of Fanelian legends.

Flipping through the thick book, she had turned to a story in the back. Out of all the tales, this had been the only one without an illustration. The main title read "The Ghost." Smirking with amusement at the ridiculous name, she had read the tale of The Ghost merely out of boredom. The book told of a legendary thief from the earlier days of Fanel. He would appear anywhere, at any time, and manage to steal anything he wished. Each time, he would get away. No one ever knew his identity because there was not a soul who had seen the man's face. What was even more mysterious was that The Ghost had simply disappeared one day and never returned. That probably explained why no one had ever even heard of the legend before.

It was strange, but something of a spark had lit in the young teen's mind. She wasn't one to take to illegal practices and stealing, but this… surely picking up where an old legend had left off was worth her time? The story, as badly written as it was, had inspired her to do something exciting with her life. This was saying something, considering that Hitomi did very little exciting things in general. With that, the Thief was born.

Hitomi was jerked out of her daydreaming as she saw the sun begin to set. "It's time…" she murmured, standing and going to close the shutters of her window.

Taking her time, she pulled back her shoulder-length, honey brown hair into a ponytail, then pulled a bandana tightly around the top of her head. Then she started on pulling on the tight, black outfit which allowed her easy movement and made her less noticeable in the dark. Tonight would certainly be interesting. Van Fanel, in his typical male behavior, would come after her again. Seeking revenge, or to regain his honor, or whatnot. A smirk played along her lips as she pulled on the finishing touch, the black strip of cloth which tied around the lower part of her face.

Slipping out the window into the refreshingly cool, now dark night, she completely forgot about the tarot cards she left behind. The Tower and the Serpent drifted off of the table with the sudden breeze that came with her exit. Hitomi didn't notice, closing the shutters and pulled herself nimbly up onto the roof of her home. _Tonight… I'll make a fool of Van Fanel.

* * *

_

There ya go. Prologueness. It's very, very short, 'cause it's just the introduction. It's an AU, as you can tell, and Hitomi, to my dismay, will be a little out of character, especially with the whole fighting, thief thing. Yes, I am going to keep going, for now, since Van and Hitomi'll meet in the next chapter. Yay! But for now, reviews would be nice just to see how it's coming along and if it sounds interesting... and the next chapters will be longer! Since I can't help myself xD

The title, by the way, is a working title. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or think of something later on, but for now, I'll leave it as is. Any suggestions?


	2. Pride

Of course, I couldn't submit the story without chapter 1… 'cause then … there'd be no action! Wee. So, anyhoo, yes, Hitomi is a bit OOC in this story. This cannot be helped, but I haven't turned her into a gung-ho sort of person, either. She's simply a clever girl. And she certainly wasn't stupid in the anime. Are her pendant and ability to see the future still going to be present? Yes, but not yet. This is AU, so I'll be going a bit by the anime plot, a bit of my own. Hopefully, I won't make a mess of things.

Obviously, italics are either flashbacks if they're big 'ol paragraphs. They can also be thoughts or stressed words.

I do not own Escaflowne. If I did, I would've made a good sequel already. Psh.

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 1 – "The Pride of a King"

* * *

Hitomi ran across the moonlit rooftops until her path ran out and she was forced to go on foot. The path led right to the royal castle. From there, it was up the back wall. There were plenty of nooks, handholds, and window-ledges she could use. It was easy enough to slip through into the castle. After all, she had done so eight times before.

With careful precision and planning, she had first found a blue-print of the castle a few weeks ago. It was easy enough, considering Father's collection of books, all about Fanelia. From there, it was simple. Plot out the best route to sneak into the castle. There were two. The first one was the one she was using now, which was to go through a window on the top floor. A window that happened to have a rusty lock. From there, her talent as a thief came in.

All the valuable items were circled in red on the map. The first night, Hitomi came to the castle with the map, not entirely familiar with the layout. That wasn't necessary anymore, however, as she had already memorized the whole thing. And, luckily, there were only a few more red circles left before the royal castle would be left heirloomless.

She supposed that the second entrance, the one that led right into the throne room, would have worked, but her instincts warned her of a presence. A stubborn Fanelian King, she knew, would be waiting for her there, as she had come in that way the previous time. So roof entrance it was. Her mind was already buzzing, planning out the possible exits on each floor, noting the amount of guards, with the wildcard Van problem always present.

The Thief wasn't stupid. She was perfectly aware that what she was doing was against the laws, and that if she was caught, she could possibly be banned from Fanel, or, even worse, her family would be exiled as well. Every exploit was planned. It wasn't planned to the last detail, but precise enough so as not to get her caught. However, she came quite close to it a few nights ago.

Well, this is certainly familiar_, she thought as she ran down the hall._ _There were heavy footsteps behind her. The ever stubborn Van Fanel was giving chase, like any other male who had his pride wrung out like laundry. It was only by chance that he had stumbled upon her as she was sneaking out of the royal library. And it was only luck that was allowing him to keep up as they ran through the dark halls of the castle. _

"_OI! YOU!" Hitomi heard, but she didn't answer. She kept running, not bothering to waste breath as her fingers kept a firm lock on the heavy book. Despite her confidence that she would probably get out of this just fine, like she had the other times, her heart was still beating faster than it usually did, and her face, which Van couldn't see anyway, was as pale as a ghost. _

"_One day, your luck is going to run out. And then where will you be, thief?" A little voice sneered. Pushing the nasty thought to the back of her mind, Hitomi kept up her pace, turning a corner. She slowed just for a moment, taking a deep breath, before starting off again, knowing the Fanelian King was still on her heels._

"_GET BACK HERE!" Van yelled again. This time, he sounded closer. Like a jolt of electricity, an idea streamed to Hitomi's head. In an abrupt motion, she stopped. Crazy, she knew, but… it just might work._

Catch this…_ In silence, Hitomi hurled the priceless book at Fanel. She couldn't hold back a smirk, watching the King fumble around like a fool, trying to capture the heirloom. There wasn't much time to gloat, however. Now was the time for action and to make her escape. With an under sweep kick, the boy was down on the ground. Humility for him, amusement for her. Knowing her advantage at such a risky tactic, the Thief wasted no more time and went for the book. Child's play. Seeing Van's face was so hilarious, with his raven-hair messily thrown over his face and a half-startled expression, she couldn't resist a soft laugh as she clambered smoothly onto a nearby windowsill. Convenience at its best._

_It was here that Van Fanel had managed to stand. Green eyes met brown. Hitomi noted with a smug grin the spark of defeat in the King's eyes, and, just to make him feel better, she spoke her first words to him. _

"_Got you again, Van Fanel." _

_Very melodramatic, she knew, but who could resist? With a chuckle, she swung herself from the window to the ground. Another convenience. The library had been on the lower floor... _

Would they meet again tonight? She was sure of it. As she slinked down the hall on the top floor of the castle, tracing the route on the map in her mind, she stayed near the shadows, wary of any late-night wanderers. You could never be too careful. She had learned that lesson the hard way.

Her soft, leather boots made no noise as she padded down a set of steps, keeping to the wall to avoid creaking. Her objective was two floors below. From there, she could be able to sneak back up to the roof and away. No problems, no loose ends. Everything, despite, perhaps, Van's interference, would go well this night.

How very, very wrong she was.

* * *

Van Fanel, King of Fanelia, was currently stalking through the throne room. What artifact would be plucked from his hands today? The list was getting shorter by the day, it seemed. Attaching the sword sheath to his belt, Van finally stormed out, determined to catch The Thief. The green-eyed girl would pay for making a fool out of him. His pride was still sore from their last encounter. The threat of seeing himself stumbled and fall again in his mind was enough spur to get him running through the halls, as quietly as possible, searching out every single shadowy corner.

As he walked, he passed numerous guards. Before the Thief, there had been no need for them, but times had changed. Nothing in the castle was safe from the female's nimble fingers.

_Women. Hmph_. His brow furrowed more and more with each step he took. By the time he had reached the stairs and began making his way up, Van was battle-ready, almost shaking with eagerness to give the Thief a bit of her own treatment. The guards would try to help him, but everyone knew Van wanted to deal with her himself. That didn't stop them from guarding the remaining artifacts so heavily, it would be impossible for the Thief to get away with anything. In theory.

Hitomi, meanwhile, had finally made it to the right floor. She pressed herself against a doorway, poking her nose out just slightly to peer down the corridor. There it was, her objective, surrounded by a wall of men.

"Hmm, a challenge…" She murmured under her breath, smiling. Indeed, the guards were starting to get smarter. Impressive. Looking past the armed men, she spotted her quarry. A shimmering pink stone, sphere-shaped. A drag energist. Newly acquired by the King himself for his admittance to royalty. It was rumored, even, that only Van could use the stone to unleash the guymelef of legends, Escaflowne. "Perfect…"

There was no real reason for her stealing anything. She didn't need it. There was hardly any use for a drag energist, since she didn't have a guymelef. The same applied for the shield with the royal crest, the book, the tapestry. She simply had no need for any of it. That was the interesting part of her thievery. She had planned on returning it once she had had her fun. Her plans, in the end, were rather illogical, but at least she enjoyed herself while she had been doing what she did. After her exploits, Hitomi supposed her thieving career would be over and she would turn her thoughts to an actual future. Perhaps something with her fortune-telling. Maybe she would move to Asturia…

Jerking herself out of her daydreams and mentally scolding herself for letting her guard down, Hitomi grabbed a pebble from a pouch at her waist, taking careful aim before shooting the small rock right over the heads of the guards. Her throw had been so forceful, the projectile clanged right into an ancient suit of armor at the other end of the hall. The rock pinged against it loudly, breaking the hushed silence of the corridor as the armor proceeding to clatter over, causing a ruckus. The guards, alarmed and startled, all began running either at the armor or down the perpendicular hall, assuming that the Thief had knocked down the armor quite by accident.

Hitomi moved forward stealthily. Now only one guard remained. The only smart one of the group, it seemed, and… the girl raised an eyebrow, a rookie. He was shivering already with fear, knowing that the Thief was in the building somewhere. Why had he lost at straws? He could have run off with the rest of them, but no…. he had to stay behind and guard the energist. And if he let the Thief get away… his guard days were over.

Holding back an amused laugh, the thief kept walking, sneaking up to the guard. With only one left, the energist could easily be obtained. When she was close enough to the guard without having to step out of the safety of the shadows, she pulled out a leather pouch, dumping a tiny amount of its contents into her open palm. Leaving the pouch by a doorway, she stood, moving quickly to stand in front of the young man.

"Hello." She said softly. She would have smiled disarmingly, too, if not for the cloth hiding the lower portion of her mouth.

"Y-y-you're…" The young guard's eyes widened visibly. He wasn't given the chance to yell out a warning to his comrades, because Hitomi didn't want that. Raising her hand, she blew out the pale blue powder, right into the man's face. His eyes rolled into the back of his head before he slumped to the ground, unconscious, thanks to the stunning powder.

The Thief sighed, apologizing silently to the guard. She didn't enjoy doing things like that. As sneaky, stealthy, cunning as she was… she was still kind at heart. But, enough of the soft-hearted moments. Moving forward, Hitomi's hand snaked out and plucked the pink stone off of its pedestal. Her work here was almost done. She still had to get out, but for now, her way was clear. She ignored her senses, which were telling her that she was in danger; that the robbery had been carried out way too easily.

"Well, look who we have here."

_Ah. Spoke too soon._ She thought, glancing down at the blade that was being held under her throat.

Van Fanel didn't smile or smirk in triumph. He was much too irritated for that. He had been walking along the floor when his guards had nearly run him over. Ignoring their hurried apologies, the King had set off in a sprint to where his energist was. Or had been, if he didn't hurry up.

He made it. Almost sighing with relief that he had caught up to the Thief, he realized that she was just in the process of taking his energist. She didn't even see him there. He had to act before the girl escaped. Unsheathing his sword, keeping the hiss of metal against leather at the lowest decibel, he took a leaf out of her book, using stealth to sneak up to the girl. She had just turned around when he whipped the weapon out, holding it to her neck.

"Well, look who we have here." His eyes narrowed as he glared at the back of her covered head.

Hitomi froze, startled just a fraction. Only a fraction. She didn't even need to turn around to know who was holding the sword to her neck. It was Van Fanel. She kept still, going over her options. She could pretend to give up and make her escape when Van made a mistake of some sort. Or she could run now, somehow getting out of the way of the dangerous sword. Neither of these plans were exactly foolproof. The only thing now to do was to wait it out.

"Van Fanel." she said coolly.

"Thief. Although, no doubt, you have a name of your own." He growled, cautiously walking to face her while taking care to keep the sword to her neck. The girl instantly hid the energist behind her back, her green eyes glittering with the fierceness of a captured fox, reminding Van that she was still dangerous.

The two teens faced each other, Hitomi trying to find a way to escape, while Van grew a little curious. With his free hand, he reached out. The Thief flinched slightly, but didn't move, staring at him grimly. Fanel didn't hesitate. He grabbed the cloth around Hitomi's face, wrenching it off, and, in the same motion, ripping away the black material that was tied around her head.

Hitomi Kanzaki had expected the action, but when the cool air hit her sweat-dampened forehead and the cloth released her bangs, allowing them to fall forward and frame her face, she realized that her identity was now known to the King. It was over. Her life in Fanelia, as she knew it, was over. The thought was so enormous; it didn't sink in at first.

Equally as startled was Van. The Thief was a young girl! Just about his age, in fact. Her bangs, light brown, fell to stick to her sweaty cheeks. She looked for the entire world like a regular teen, but the glint still had not left her eyes. Defiant as always. Hitomi wouldn't let Van see her pain at being defeated.

"You're just a regular girl…" He frowned, displeased. The woman he had anticipated turned out to be a pretty little girl. _This_ was the infamous Thief? The one who had outsmarted him all those times? That was hard to believe. Throwing the black cloth to the floor, Van held the sword closer to her neck. "Who are you?"

"And why should I tell you?" she snapped, annoyed at his previous comment. Regular girl, indeed.

"I'm King, and you're a petty thief! You have no choice; I'll kill you if I have to." His short temper rose a fraction as he pressed close, growling out his words.

"You won't kill me, Van Fanel." hissed Hitomi, matching his temper perfectly.

"It's King Van!"

But Hitomi had had enough. She whipped out the energist, shoving it against Van's sword. There were sparks as the two objects collided. Van yelled in surprise, stumbling away.

The thief didn't waste any more time. The stunning powder would have to stay behind. A pity, but sacrifices would have to be made. Darting away from his sword and his grasp, Hitomi ran off down the hall, swerved around a corner, then up a flight of stairs. _Only two more stories to go. Only two more stories to go. Only two more stories to go._ She repeated this again and again, her mantra soothing her frantic heartbeat somewhat. There was no confidence left anymore. No ideas, no back-up plans. Her cover was blown; the King himself had seen her. The truth sank in like a stone.

"WAIT!" Van had recovered from his initial shock in record time. He immediately set off racing after Hitomi, furious at himself. He had had her within his grasps, but she had managed to get away anyway. _Damn it… and she was so close!_

The two were familiar with this. Van chasing, Hitomi running. A game of cat and mouse. Before, this would have amused Hitomi, but not tonight. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach and tears threatened to come. Her mind was busy bringing up cases of how her life would be after tonight. None of which were good.

Down another hall, around a corner, up the stairs. _Only one more story to go. Only one more story to go. Only one more story to go. _

Finally, the roof. A relived gasp escaped Hitomi's lips as she clambered out of the window, pulling herself onto the roof somehow, still holding the energist in one hand. The logical idea would have been to leave the energist behind, but she was beyond logic now. She was beyond thinking, too. Carefully stumbling along the tiles, she heard grunting and glanced behind just in time to see the Fanelian King clambering up through the window as well.

Her legs froze in place as her brain reeled from the things that were happening around her. She could feel the tremors through her feet that there were guards storming through the whole castle. All after her. _It's all over… _

Van approached her cautiously, holding his hands in front of him. "Now, hold on, I'm not going to hurt you…" He took up the innocent approach, his thirst for revenge held back for now. There would be time for that later. The Thief's capture was important. He was surprised to see that the girl was staring at him, fearful but keeping up her rebellious composure. Her spirit may have been trampled, it was still intact. She wouldn't cry. Blinking away the tears, the girl managed a small grin, waving the energist in front of her. "You want this?"

"Put it down, and you won't get hurt."

"Oh, I doubt it. You're probably still trying to regain your honor from last time." For the first time, Van witnessed Hitomi's cheeky grin. She wasn't going down without a fight.

The King frowned. "Yes, I am, but that's not the point."

"Yes it is. Well, if you want this _and _your pride back… you still have to catch me."

Her confidence rose a bit. There was still a thread of hope that she could get out of it. She took a step back, slowly, so as not to alarm Van. The boy, unknowingly, was doing the same thing, approaching Hitomi as he would a young doe in the woods. Slowly… very… slowly.

Hitomi may have managed to escape. Van may have even achieved capturing her. But, at the same moment, an explosion rocked the whole city.

"ENEMIES! THERE ARE ENEMIES ATTACKING!" There was screaming and yelling. The two on the roof were confused. At the far side of town, building were being destroying by an unseen enemy. The next collapsed building shook the royal castle. It was bad luck that Hitomi was standing right at the edge of the roof. The tremor was just enough for her to lose her footing and tumble right over the edge into empty space.

"OI!" Van yelled. Without thinking, he ran right off the roof with her. He caught up to her easily, catching her in his arms. As he did so, something happened. The energist began to glow, as did a small spot beneath Hitomi's dark shirt. More rumbling, another explosion, then something silvery sped right underneath the two and caught them.

Van and Hitomi thudded painfully into the piloting area of a strange dragon constructed from steel. They lay there, on t op of each other as they took deep breaths, recovering from their death-defying jump and the impact of their bodies against steel. Finally, realizing that contact between them was much too close; they pulled away hurriedly, muttering apologies.

"What's… going on?" Hitomi murmured, sitting up as she looked around. Wasn't there an attack going on?

Van stood. "Somehow… we summoned Escaflowne." He grimly looked at the wings that dragon possessed, then gasped. "The city!"

Already, half the city was burning.

* * *

I decided to end the chapter here, since the chapter was already wayyy too long and it was just getting ridiculous.

I think I'm infamous at writing bad action stories. Especially for Escaflowne. I should probably stick to my humor fics, since those are more popular and get more reviews. I should probably not write any more Escaflowne fics… but since when do I do what I should? Psh.

Even if I don't get any good reviews for this fic since it's probably written badly, I'll try to keep it going. I'm just _that _lame. xD

Reviews would still be nice, though.


	3. Destruction

So… it only took me a flippin' month to update. I apologize, really, I wanted to update sooner! But I had speeches come up. But those're over, and swimming still hasn't started up yet, so I'll be able to get in a few more chapters, I'm sure.

Know what's cool, though? I found, like, 6 deleted scenes from Escaflowne a while ago. A pity that they didn't really add anything to the story, but they were cool nonetheless.

Wow. 15 reviews. I'm so happy! Thank you, all! Next chapter, the reviewer replies'll probably be at the bottom.

**Inda**- Hey, a reader from my old fanfic! Thanks for the review!

**hikari uteda**- I'll try my best to be updating as soon as I can! Thank you for the reviewingness.

**Random**- What can I say? You're my hero. I hope you keep reviewing to boost my self-esteem. xD I'm sorry I didn't update fast. I'll do it next time, promise.

**Macky- **Thankee for teh review!

**CapT.BlacK**- Hello, Jones. So far, it has a K+ rating, yes, but now it's T! For violence and shtuffers! Happy? AHH! YOU KNOCKED OVER THE DEWWW!

**Emily**- uh… yeah…. I mean, I never really asked you to read the fic.. xD

**f-zelda**- gahh, again, I have failed you all in updating soon! I feel so terrible right now.

**Kathya**- Thanks! I tried really hard on Hitomi's character.

**Sasha**- Thanks for the review! And, just for that, here's a new chapter! Yay!

**Sarah**- Oh, so you're Panda Parachuter now? Oh, no, wait, no you're not. Clever poo. I'm sure I addressed everything I wanted with your reviews already. But… ECHELON! And I'll ninja your house right back. Yo. Deflate the Nami's!

**Emina**- AHH! I didn't update soon -sobs- I'm sorry!

I'll just keep continuing then, shall I?

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 2 – "The Destruction of a City"

* * *

The energist fell from Hitomi's shaking fingers. "Fanelia… i-it's burning!"

The drag energist dropped to the floor of the piloting seat with a clatter. Van and Hitomi stood together in the cockpit of the ancient dragon armor, staring out at their precious city. The Thief had spoken true. Fanelia was burning.

The air around them grew hot. Ashes blew past them in the warm wind, whipping back Hitomi's shoulder-length hair and ruffling Van's black mop, almost fondly. For a few moments, all they could do was stare.

The buildings were collapsing, each one in a fiery explosion. There was screaming but it seemed that someone, even in the chaotic atmosphere, was leading the townspeople to higher ground.

"Do you see them?" Hitomi's voice broke through Van's daze. She was shaking violently, looking like she was about to scream, run, or throw up. Either one would have been preferable to her paralyzed state.

Van would have ignored her. He would have started wreaking bloody rampage, too, but the hushed tone of the thief caused him to check his anger and turn his head. "See what?"

Slowly, carefully, Hitomi lifted a shaky arm to point down at a small town square, her free hand gripping at a necklace. "The giants… the invisible giants…"

Her wide, staring eyes held a fear that possessed truthfulness to it, and that alone was enough to cause a stirring of doubt in the young King's heart. He stared at the empty square, and then frowned. "Invisible giants?"

There came no reply. Instead, Hitomi winced, closing her eyes and dropping her arm hurriedly. Milliseconds afterwards, another crash sounded as a local bakery collapsed on itself violently, as if something had… smashed it in… but there was nothing there, how was that possible? Squinting, he looked closer.

Van held back a gasp of astonishment. There! A shimmer in the light! There _was_ something there! The young thief hadn't been lying after all. Somehow, she had been able to see through the haze of invisibility.

The truth sunk in like lead. There were invisible guymelefs burning his home down. Attacking without cause. Destroying everything the people had lived for!

"Get off the melef, jump!" Van growled aggressively, diving for the energist and jumping lightly from the piloting seat. There was only one thing to do now. He had never wanted to use Escaflowne for it. The God of War himself. But the situation called for it. He had no choice; he needed to avenge his homeland.

"Huh?" Hitomi blinked after him, not realizing what he was doing.

"Jump!" He repeated impatiently, landing on the ground and looking up at her.

Letting out a nervous moan, Hitomi looked at how far away Van seemed to be from her position. Putting her foot up on the edge of the piloting seat, the Thief took a deep breath, and then jumped as well.

It was faintly surprising to her that she managed to land on both feet. She blinked, looking around to see that she was still alive, and managed a relived sigh. Her head turned to look out at the city again, as painful as it was. There were flashes sometimes, and she could pick out the disturbing giants that were the cause of the destruction.

"But why…" She murmured. "Fanelia has always been peaceful… why would they burn it to the ground?"

The young king ignored her. He ran forward, reaching out to touch the large, dull red stone being held in the dragon armor's claws. There was a dull grinding noise, and Escaflowne had shifted forms to the more recognizable armor shape. The fluttering black and red cape had barely settled, but Van was already climbing up the bent knee of his melef, pulling out his sword as he came level to the heart of Escaflowne.

"Fanel…" Hitomi slowly began to back up into the leg of the guymelef, fearfully staring into space.

"Shut up, girl…" Sighing, he closed his eyes for a split second, as if thinking. He was actually calming himself. To awaken the ancient armor, he knew he had to be calm, not angered.

"Fanel!" There was a rising tone of fear and panic in her voice. Still, Van didn't reply.

"FANEL!"

Finally, Van brought the naked sword forward, nicking his thumb and letting the fresh blood spill over the energist in his opposite hand.

"HURRY UP, YOU IDIOT!" Hitomi was screaming below. In her mind's eye, the swinging chain of her necklace swung to reveal a concealed body of the giant enemy melef.

Ever stubborn, Van ignored the Thief. "I bind myself to thee… Escaflowne…" He murmured, raising the dragon heart. The cold eyes of the guymelef seemed to be staring at him, a bleak sort of glare. Van raised his head to look at the face plate, but there was no time for hesitation. He thrust the stone into the heart of Escaflowne, pulling his hand away smoothly.

With a flash of pink color, the stone heart began to beat inside the ancient armor, and a bright sheen of silver streamed across the metal and steel. Escaflowne had awoken.

There was a hissing sound, and the piloting seat opened with gushes of steam. Van, managing a triumphant grin, stuck his pricked thumb briefly into his mouth to wash away the blood, and then skipped up to sit in the chamber. The steel and metal plates almost instantly closed in front of him.

"Great… just like the ancient textbooks said… now…" He looked around the small space, finding the controllers for his arms and legs. As soon as he was in position, he tried to stand. It was hard as first, as if Escaflowne was still sleepy, but he managed it. There was more releasing of steam out of certain areas of the melef. Nonetheless, everything seemed in perfect condition.

Now that the guymelef was activated, he was ready to take on the enemy.

"VAAANNN!"

"WHAT?" Van finally snapped out of her reverie, looking down to where the black-clad girl was pressed fearfully against the leg of Escaflowne.

"In front of you!"

Before he could react, the wall of the palace to the right of him burst into flames, but the stream of fire, which seemed to be coming from nowhere, kept going towards Escaflowne. Moving quickly, Van shifted the guymelef away from the threatening flame thrower stream. Remembering the Thief's presence, he shifted open the grille through which he could make his face visible and his voice heard.

"You, girl! Grab onto something!" Van growled, busily pulling out Escaflowne's sword to make battle.

"_Girl?"_ Hitomi thought, biting back a reproving comment because of the matter at hand. Using her thieving skills to the best of her ability, she grabbed onto the huge, metal leg of the melef, scrambling nimbly up to the shoulder.

As she had been passing the controller's seat, Van's voice had floated out, muttering. "Where _is_ that bastard…?"

Now, sitting on Escaflowne's shoulder gave her a bird's eye view of everything. That also meant that she could see everything of her smoldering city. Blinking away the tears of pain and anger, Hitomi instead directed her attention to the attackers. There were melefs everywhere. In her vision, they appeared to be under glistening gauzes of sorts.

"_Maybe… invisibility cloaks?"_ It was a possibility, but whatever it was, no one but her could see them. Her thoughts were zipping a round in her head like over-active flies, but everything slammed some when the invisible melef before them conjured up a sword by means of a liquid substance. That would not have worried Hitomi, if not for the melef swinging out at them.

She gasped. "To the left!"

"What?" Van, flabbergasted, instinctively threw up his sword in a blocking position while turning more to the left. _"How did she know that?"_

There was no time to ask her, though. Letting out a growl of anger, Van ran his sword through the air where the attack had just come from. The ancient sword ripped right through the stealth cloak of the enemy, revealing a guymelef.

"_Guymelefs! I knew it! And from what I can tell… they're from Zaibach."_ His mind reeling from the sudden onslaught of realizations and his ears ringing, Van took no more chances and ran his blade through the heart of the melef before him.

Grumbling with annoyance and his eyes shining with battle lust, Van paused for a moment to grab Hitomi from his shoulder gently. Holding her in his left hand would be safer for her. With the grinding of gears and clunking of metal against metal, the king moved Escaflowne down to stand in the palace square and take survey of the situation.

The palace wasn't completely destroyed. Only patches were burning. Van stood still, keeping his ears tuned to any more guymelefs.

The square was silent, but for the crackling of fire.

"Something's not right…." he muttered, his eyes darting here and there. He was right. Out of the shadows stepped out five more melefs, no longer cloaked. They were surrounded.

Hitomi was trying not to scream from what she had just witnessed, but it was hard. It was all so overwhelming. She couldn't take it. Her home was gone. Fanelia... was gone. Her pride as a thief was gone, too. Everything had been taken away from her. Her brain was filled with too many emotions. Pain of the loss. Fear of what was to come. Anger at Fanel and at everything. Sorrow. Agony. It was too much. It had started with her on a simple thievery expedition. It ended with the destruction of everything she had.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know when she started screaming or why. Her emotions spilled out of her in tears.

"… the hell…?" Van glanced from the head guymelef to the suddenly berserk girl in his hands, his boiling battle blood simmering down a tad.

"_Mom! DAD! Amano and Yukari! It's all gone! ALL GONE!"_ Hitomi's pendant exploded into a beam of pink light. Escaflowne's heart began to glow in reaction to that. The scene froze as a blue light descended from the sky onto Van and Hitomi.

Van, too shocked for words, could only watch as the light picked him up and he began to float skywards. Finally, he managed to choke out a "What is this?" but no one could have possibly heard him.

Then they were gone.

* * *

Mm… .mehhh….. nyrrgghhh…. I don't like this chapter.

Do I ever like my chapters? Haha.

But I needed to get this one out. It's short. It's very short. Next one will be longer, since Hitomi and Van will start talking to each other. And, of course, there's Allen. Mwa ha.

Oh, in case any of you were wondering, Echelon means rank or level. It means a lot in the story, since Van and Hitomi are separated by their level or status in society. I mean, I hope I managed to plug that in there somehow.

Plus, echelon just sounds cool, damnit.

Reviews? Please?


	4. Code

Woo hoo for another update, ne? Mmmkay, some of you may have noticed how the story is going a bit similarly with the anime storyline. That's what my plan is. It's an AU, of sorts. So Allen, Dilandau, Millerna, Merle, Folken, and especially Dornkirk will all be in here some time or other. So there will be scenes that are familiar, but, as you can see with both this chapter and the last one, they'll have a spin on it as to fit my fic. So there ya go.

I could've sworn that I had something else to say in here. But… I forgot. Ah well.

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 3 – "Code of a Thief"

* * *

_Van, too shocked for words, could only watch as the light picked him up and he began to float skywards. Finally, he managed to choke out a "What is this?" but no one could have possibly heard him._

_Then they were gone._

"Where _is_ that stupid thief…" muttered Van, stumbling out of the piloting seat and nearly falling to the ground below because of a branch that happened to be in his way.

He impatiently shoved it aside, looking around. "What the...?"

No longer was he surrounded by the enemy melefs. Instead, trees now stood before him like silent guards of the forest. "Where… am I? And where did that girl go?"

It was still night. Van turned his gaze to the stars, but he couldn't tell much from them on where exactly he was.

Jumping to the grassy forest floor, Van took hold of the situation. Fanelia was still in danger, and he needed to get back there as soon as he could from this forest.

That was all good and sound, but he couldn't leave without the Thief. Not that she was especially needed, but Van's pride wouldn't let her escape once more, not when she had literally been in the palm of his hand.

"What are you staring at?"

"Huh?"

Van jerked himself around to see the Thief standing quite placidly before him in one of the beams of moonlight that had managed to make its way through the tree branches. She had just stepped out of the shadow of the Escaflowne. On her cheeks, if Van had been calm enough to notice, were stains of tears. Instead, Fanel stalked towards her, looking irritated.

"Where the hell did you go? You have no right wandering off like that when you're my captive!"

"Hello to you, too." Hitomi muttered, walking past him to set down the food and sit down on a fallen log. She sniffed softly, and then froze, hoping Van hadn't heard that.

Luckily, he had not. Still seething, he moved to stand before her, glaring down. "What did you do? Where are we?

Hitomi slowly raised her eyes to meet his. "I don't know what happened. All I know is that my pendant started to glow, we were lifted into the air by that blue light, and now…" She spread her arms. "…we're here."

Van stared. "Your pendant?"

A silence filled in, only broken by the chirping of crickets in the night. Hitomi stared at Van with a very obvious expression of "What, are you stupid or something?"

The night was cold and Van tired. His legs were shaking and begging to sit, but the king resisted. By standing, he could still appear higher than the Thief, more assertive and commanding. Van quickly frowned again, sounding stern. "Then take us back with it!"

"I can't! I…." Hitomi stood back up, shivering.

Her weakness only made him angrier. "Do you realize what's happening to Fanelia right now, thief? It's burning, it's being destroyed! I don't know what you did, but because of you, there's no one to help it!"

Hitomi flinched away for a moment from the angry words, then flared up as well. "I know! I know! But there's nothing I can do, I don't know what I did!"

"Oh, I'm not surprised, Thief. You can only do harm and steal the Royal heirlooms but when it comes to saving your country, you're useless!"

"Stop it!" Hitomi screamed, livid. "I have a name, you know, you idiot!"

Just as he had been preparing to throw more anger out at Hitomi, he stopped dead. The Thief, it seemed, had gone too far. It was time to remind her of her place. Drawing himself up, he put on his best angry furious King voice.

"How _dare _you speak to me that way? You're a daughter of a book keeper! A nobody! In fact, you're a _thief_! You're broken the law, you're even lower than a regular citizen!"

Van Fanel obviously had not dealt with a stressed girl before. And especially not Hitomi. He was shocked when the girl dealt him a slap across that face, and could only back away as her green eyes flared with anger and she advanced upon him.

"Oh, so _that's_ what this is about! Social status! I'm a lowly citizen but you're a king! I have to address you as _sire_ and _your majesty_, huh? Well, you know what?" She jabbed her finger into Van's chest as he was backed up into a tree.

"You're not worth my respect! You are no king in my book! In fact, you're lower than me on the personality scale! You're selfish! Conceited! Thick-headed! Too proud and stubborn! And so _arrogant! _You're just full of yourself!"

She screamed the last words as loud as she could, staring into his startled eyes, then burst into tears and walked away to sit back on her log again.

Van's anger faded away, only to be replaced with perplexity and embarrassment as he blinked at Hitomi, holding a hand to his stinging cheek. He had taken it too far, really. It was shameful to yell at a woman and make her cry, although this girl… was quite emotional, and it was bewildering on how she could have gone so easily from anger to tears. Not to mention that no one had ever spoken to him that way, but the Thief, whom he had never really spoken with before, was freely spouting his flaws and weaknesses.

He moved forward, at a loss as to what to say or do. King's weren't trained to take care of weeping girls, after all.

Hitomi, meanwhile, buried her head into her hands and let the tears run down unchecked. She didn't care if Fanel saw her, that pompous prick. She was out in a forest who knew where while the kingdom of Fanelia, her home, was being destroyed. The situation was hopeless. There was every good reason to cry, and that's what Hitomi did.

Footsteps announced Fanel's presence before her. Sighing, the young king sat himself on his haunches. He lowered his voice to a calm one. It came out cold, but certainly better than before.

"Look, I'm going to go scout out where we are."

Hitomi said nothing, sniffling and sobbing into her hands. Van tried again. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Just don't run off."

She finally lifted her head and glared at him through bloodshot eyes. "And why would I do that?"

"Well… I don't trust you, and since I'm supposed to be throwing you into jail for everything you've done, you might have considered running away."

She turned her head away, wiping the tears from her eyes and cheeks with the back of her hands. "We thieves have codes and honor too, you know. I'm not going anywhere."

Shrugging, Van stood, glancing over at the girl over his shoulder. He left the small clearing, leaving Hitomi to herself.

Silence filled in again. The Thief sniffled softly, wiping her eyes firmly with a firm resolve not to let herself break down again.

"I can handle this! I'm the Thief of Fanelia!"

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Hitomi realized how much of a lie it was. She slumped again, drained from her previous burst of emotions and tears. What would the Thief do in a situation like this? The Thief wouldn't have cried, but the Thief wasn't there. Hitomi Kanzaki was, and Hitomi Kanzaki felt like crying.

A sigh escaped her lips. The Thief and Hitomi Kanzaki were completely different people. When she put on the black wrap around her head, she felt braver, like taking on hundreds of guards was child's play. Maybe it was because no one had known who she was. Because, in reality, the Thief really was the somewhat quiet Hitomi Kanzaki who could read tarot cards.

"_And has transporting pendants, obviously"._ She thought with a wry smirk.

The thought of tarot cards reminded Hitomi of their company. She pulled them out of an inside pocket in her shirt, along with a folded map of Gaea. The two items never left her presence and she certainly always had them on every illegal visit to the Fanelian castle. This was lucky, considering that her other pack was now burned up and gone.

While she shuffled her deck of cards, Hitomi took time to reflect on all that had happened, and what they would do now. It seemed like a desperate situation. A thief and a king, stuck in the middle of nowhere, their home burnt to the ground with no means of getting to it anyway except the guymelef, Escaflowne.

Hitomi set the deck down, letting her gaze stray to the Ispano guymelef for a moment before shifting to sit in the grass on her knees, deciding that she was spending too much time thinking, and flipping over the first few cards of her freshly shuffled deck.

"What are those?" Van walked back, tossing down some firewood and frowning down at the cards as he sat himself on Hitomi's log.

Not looking up, the Thief closely examined her cards and said nothing. His words from before were not forgiven and the last thing Hitomi wanted to do was talk to him.

Van tried again. "Thief…"

She continued to stubbornly ignore him, staring intently at the cards. Her brow furrowed with confusion at what she saw and Van almost grew worried. Almost, but not quite. His patience for the emotional girl was growing thin.

"Look, we have no choice but to wait until morning. I brought some firewood. Once morning breaks, we'll start back to Fanelia."

"The Fool…. The serpent…" Hitomi murmured under her breath, analyzing the cards and, obviously, not listening to a word Van said.

The boy frowned, not pleased. "Did you hear a word I said, Thief?"

"Mm?" Hitomi looked up. "Yes. Firewood. Fanelia. Right. And stop calling me Thief." Nodding, she turned back to her cards, a look of perplexity returning to her features.

"Well, then, what's your name?"

"I go by Hitomi Kanzaki."

"Well, then, Hitomi, you'd better put whatever those are away and get to sleep." Van said, waving at the cards.

"They're tarot cards!" Hitomi exclaimed, indignant. However, she folded the cards back into one deck and sat back to look at Van more closely.

"And what do they do?"

She grinned. "They tell you your fortune!"

Van snorted in disbelief. "Right, sure. Just go to bed, I'll wake you up in the morning."

"There's still at least 6 hours of night left. Don't you want to take shifts?" Hitomi wasn't familiar with camping outdoors, but she knew from the castle guard's schedules that they took shifts.

"Shifts? Shifts are for people who trust each other. I'd rather keep an eye on you the whole night." Van's voice was cold, still. He set to starting a fire with the wood he had retrieved.

"I told you before, we thieves have a code. Once we get caught, we are bound by code to stay with you. As you said, you caught me, although I hardly think I had a choice…" Hitomi rolled her eyes. "... so I won't be going anywhere. I'll take the last shift and wake you up when morning breaks."

Her proposition was met with a shrug from Van. "Fine. Whatever, Thi-eh… Hitomi."

"Fine."

She stiffly lay down as Van sat back to watch his newly created fire spread through the firewood. As the two stared into the flames, Hitomi felt herself grow sleepy and her eyes closed partly. She relaxed her body and let out a soft sigh. However, she couldn't go to sleep without asking Fanel something that had been nagging at her since they arrived in the forest.

"Van…" Hitomi murmured softly, half-asleep.

He looked up from the fire. "Hmm?"

"Why did you…" She paused, hesitant, as her eyes reflected the wavering flames in-between them.

"What?"

"Back on the roof of the castle. Why did you jump after me when I fell?"

Whatever Van had been expecting, that wasn't it. He fumbled for an answer, caught off guard. "Well, uh… I didn't want you to die; you're no good to me dead. I hoped I could somehow save you, but that was… kind of stupid."

A drowsy smile lit Hitomi's face as she rolled over onto her side, her back to the fire. Van could hear her last words, soft and wistful. "Thank you for saving me, Van. Good night…"

He turned back to staring at the fire, thoughtful.

"… good night."

* * *

_Fire. Screaming. Pain. Destruction. Everywhere._

_Hitomi turned in circles, confused. The flames encircled her. She had nowhere to go, she was trapped. Right before her eyes, everything burned to nothing. Bodies melted away into the embers. Screams died out with the smoke. Buildings fell apart as if they were dying with the city. The city._

_Fanelia was dying._

_Fanelia was dead._

"No!" Hitomi jerked herself awake, looking around wildly as if still expecting to see fire all around her.

What she saw instead was a dazzling, sunny morning. She was surrounded by brightly lit trees. The air was warm, the birds were singing, and all that.

"Where… oh…" Everything returned to her. The attack on Fanelia. Van. Escaflowne. As her recalled the previous night, she stretched, yawning.

"About time you're awake."

Hitomi yelped in surprise at the voice. Van looked at her from across the now put out fire that had been between them.

"Fanel! Er… good morning…" Standing, she nodded in greeting to him. Something was odd about this. She remembered thinking the previous night that she couldn't be waking up this early. "… what time is it?"

Van rose as well, fixing the sword on his belt. "I would say that there's about a few more hours until noon."

His words sunk in. Hitomi gaped. "A few hours? Fanel! Why didn't you wake me up for my shift?"

"I didn't want to wake you. You could have run off."

"Why you…" Hitomi was flabbergasted. Van Fanel had stayed up all night because he still didn't trust her! "I gave you my word! I told you that I follow the code!"

He turned on her, his auburn eyes cold. "What good is the word of the Thief?"

"As good as the word of Van Fanel!" she snapped back, angered once again. Grabbing her pile of tarot cards and her pendant from the forest floor, Hitomi glared at the king before turning on her heel and storming off into the brightly lit forest. "Fine! I'll just _leave_, then!"

Van stared after her. "Wait, thief!" He called, then cursed under his breath. "I mean, Hitomi! Hitomi, come back!"

She didn't answer or even glance back. She kept going until she was out of sight.

"Fine! You can go, see if I care!" With a frustrated sigh, Van sat down and set to polishing his sword, but it didn't take his conscious long to begin gnawing at him. He chucked the sword away in anger.

"Damn that girl!"

"AHHHHHH!"

Van shot from his seat, looking around wildly. "What?"

There was more screaming. Cursing again, Van sprinted into the forest after Hitomi. What had the girl gotten herself into now?

* * *

Hitomi grumbled as she stomped along through the trees. That Van Fanel! She had never met a more arrogant boy than he. Even more irking was that despite her lie about a Code, he still didn't trust her.

Indeed, the Code had been a lie. Hitomi had no code to follow. She wasn't exactly part of a Thieves guild or anything of the sort. She worked alone, and thieves hardly had rules. No, Hitomi had stayed with Van purely out of fear and a strong urge to cling to another human being. Van was the only one round, and Hitomi hardly wanted to go wandering off into strange forests unprotected. Although, strangely enough, that was what she was doing now.

With no sense of direction, she quickly lost site of camp and found herself hopelessly lost. A lump rose in her throat, which was no doubt another incoming crying fit. Swallowing, Hitomi pulled out the pendant, closing her eyes.

"Please… just show me where to do… tell me what to do. What am I supposed to do?" She whispered softly, as if the pendant would answer. She calmed her pounding her for a moment, concentrating.

"OOO! SHINY!"

There was a sharp tug on the chain of the pendant. Hitomi screamed and pulled back, snapping her eyes open to see a very peculiar sight.

A disgusting little man, who bore a very close resemblance to a mole, was trying to pull the pendant away from her, making dark cackling sounds as he did so. Screaming once more, Hitomi tried backing away. Her foot caught on a tree root and she fell painfully to the forest floor. Unfortunately, the mole man followed right after her, almost giggling with excitement.

The two of them were determined not to let the other claim the pendant. Hitomi tried to kick the man, but he began to climb on top of her, his hands scrambling this way and that, finally making contact with her chest.

Horrified and chocked, Hitomi screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked out at the man, who flew off to the side, with the pendant.

"Shiny shiny shiny pendant…" He murmured softly, holding the pendant up to the light as the girl he had just stolen from shivered from disgust.

There was a sudden screech of a hawk and the moleman began screaming.

Hitomi looked up to see the mole man squawking in distress as he flapped his arms to shoo away a bird of some sort.

"AHH! Get off, you stupid bird! Get lost! Go away!" When the bird had flown off, the mole man looked nervously at someone she couldn't quite see.

"A-Allen… I didn't know you would be here…"

"I thought I told you to keep away from these parts. Not only are you back, but you're harassing little girls now, too? What… a shame."

Hitomi gasped. A tall man had entered the area, his eyes dark with anger. What made him stand out, however, was his long blonde hair.

"Idiot!" The man named Allen ran forward, delivering a solid uppercut to the burglar.

The moleman flew through the air, landing with a thump on the other side of the clearing, clearly knocked out. When Allen turned his attention to Hitomi, she couldn't help but gasp and recoil a bit, nervous of what this new stranger would be like.

"I hope you aren't hurt, miss." His voice was deep and melodious. The young thief couldn't help but shudder slightly in fear as a shiver ran up her spine. "What are you doing in a place like this, all alone?"

He knelt down beside her, smiling kindly. "What's wrong?"

The kind look in his eyes and the true concern in his voice made Hitomi's heart wrench. She had had enough excitement for years to come. The lump was back again and with a sob of pain, she threw herself into Allen's arms, crying. "I was so scared! And I was all alone! And now I'll never see Mom or Dad again… Fanelia…"

Her mind shut down. With a sigh, she slumped into the white fabric of Allen's shirt. It smelled pleasant. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went faded into darkness.

* * *

WOOOO! Another chapter written. This was hard to write. All the thinking… and talking… ugh. I'm so much better and writing action. I dunno. I never think that anything I write is worthy of even being read. But I suppose that's what fanfiction is for. Then at least someone likes what you write.

I'll probably update this one again before anything else. Now that Allen's here! Shweet.

Thank you for reviewing, all! I heart reviews. Seriously. The more reviews, the better I write. It's been proven. Really.

**Inda – **Yay! Thank you! And thanks for reviewing! It means a lot to me.

**Macky – **Yes, Merle will be in this story later on. I'll get to it as soon as I can, haha.

**CapT.BlacK – **Esca! Flowne! Ah haha. Thanks for the reviewness.

**Random** – Have I mentioned that you're my hero? 'Cause you are. Thank you for boosting my self-esteem, although I hardly deserve it. I'll try updating as soon as I can without throwing out chapters that sound terrible.

**Kmmgirly – **Allen? Yes, he's probably going to be the same. I couldn't dare to change his personality!

**f-zelda** – Yes, the story is pretty similar, but it's still quite different, I suppose. And now you know where they went with the light!


	5. Introduction

Look at all those reviews. I love you all. Thank you. So. Much. This story is a lot more popular than I thought it would be. It fills me with joy.

I know. Once again, I've failed you all and taken a bajillion years to update. That's how it is. I'm a lazy bum. Again… (and I'm sure I've said this before), I'll start to update tons more after summer starts.

Then I noticed that I only have one person who favorited this story. And I nearly cried.

But then I kinda got over it and got my sorry butt in gear to _update._

I've also decided to make my chapters shorter. This way, I won't spend so much time on one chapter and I'll be able to crank out chapters faster.

As I type away, I'm eating pudding. I love pudding. Thank you.

ANYway…. Onwards with the story.

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 4 – "Introduction of the Knight"

* * *

"_I hope you aren't hurt, miss." His voice was deep and melodious. The young thief couldn't help but shudder slightly in fear as a shiver ran up her spine. "What are you doing in a place like this, all alone?"_

_He knelt down beside her, smiling kindly. "What's wrong?"_

_The kind look in his eyes and the true concern in his voice made Hitomi's heart wrench. She had had enough excitement for years to come. The lump was back again and with a sob of pain, she threw herself into Allen's arms, crying. "I was so scared! And I was all alone! And now I'll never see Mom or Dad again… Fanelia…"_

_Her mind shut down. With a sigh, she slumped into the white fabric of Allen's shirt. It smelled pleasant. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went faded into darkness._

"You think she's awake yet, the young princess?"

"Idiot, she's not a princess, she's the Thief!"

"Doesn't matter what she is, she's a beauty!"

Hitomi awoke to what sounded like an army of men, all going through the list of dirty comments and musings. Usually, she would have scowled in disgust, but her body stayed relaxed and still, her face expressionless. Just to be on the safe side.

_What happened? Where _am_ I?_

To her surprise, all of the men were silenced at one melodious voice, which sounded familiar.

"C'mon, guys, you're in the presence of lady."

Hitomi's heart fluttered briefly. A lady! Her? Wow.

"Some lady she is." Someone said, snorting.

Van Fanel.

With a growl, Hitomi sat up angrily, forgetting that she had been pretending to be unconscious. "Shut up!"

There was laughter and the girl suddenly flushed, confused. She was in a bed. The blonde man from before was sitting by her side, grinning. There was a group of men at the far end of the room, warming by the fire and eating. They were the ones laughing and smirking devilishly at her. As the Thief's eyes flew around the room, they eventually spotted the familiar red shirt and khaki pants. Van was sitting by a window, looking bored and not meeting her eyes. Typical. The words to reprimand him never got their chance, however, as she was interrupted.

The blonde was the one who spoke next. "Are you alright, my lady? You had quite an adventure back there." He flashed her a dazzling smile, looking both charming and dashing at the same time.

"I-I'm fine…" Hitomi stuttered, taken aback by the man before her. He was very handsome and, unfortunately, Hitomi was still a teen, and the usual raging hormones (aka, liking every boy you meet) hadn't died down quite so much as she would have liked. Hoping to distract herself away from his blue eyes, she raised a hand to grasp the pendant hanging from her neck. Her hand grabbed air instead.

"Ah, I believe this is yours…" Still smiling, the man handed her the necklace. "Safe and sound."

"Ah! Thank you!" Taking the precious pink stone, her fingers closed over it tightly in a fist to keep it safe. Summoning the courage, Hitomi looked the man in the eyes again, blurting out the first thing she could think of. "Who are you?"

He chuckled. "My name is Allen Schezar of Asturia. I am a Knight of Caeli. It is my honor to serve you, beautiful lady." To emphasize his point, he took her hand carefully in his and kissed it.

_A charmer, I see, Allen Schezar. _Hitomi thought, recovering her smugness and sarcasm quickly, but she was won over anyway. A blush crept to her cheeks. "Th-thank you…"

"How does he do it? Say all of that with a straight face?"

"Ha! I don't know, he has a talent for it!"

"I'd never be able to do that…"

The men, who looked strangely like mercenaries, looked on at the two, grinning and snickering. Allen only grinned sheepishly and shook his head.

There was a sudden screech of wood being rubbed on wood. Van had pushed away the stool he had been sitting on and stood. "Allen, I'm grateful for your help, but we have to get going back to Fanelia."

"Not just yet, we must go have a talk outside. With the Lady, if she wishes." Allen stood as well. Hitomi spotted something on his face, just before he had turned away. It had looked like pain. Or was it pity?

_Whatever it is, I don't like the looks of it._

Don't you just hate it when your inner voice is right?

**:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:**

"Well, Allen, what did you want to talk about?" said Van impatiently. Allen had seated himself and Hitomi at a small table, out on a convenient balcony. It overlooked the surrounding country around the fort, as Kanzaki had just been told where exactly they were. The view, however, was breathtaking. She didn't have time to admire it, however, but listened to Allen and Van instead.

Allen sighed, casually interlacing his fingers and propping his elbows on the table. "Van, you could have at least introduced me to the lady." He turned to Hitomi. "What is your name?"

She had been expecting this question and answered confidently. "Hitomi Kanzaki."

"Hitomi… Hitomi…" He repeated the name, trying it on the tongue as a wine connoisseur would acquaint himself with a fine vino. It seemed to please him and Allen donned the gentle smile once more. "It's a very beautiful name."

Van frowned. "She's the Thief. I'm sure you've heard of her."

The blonde raised a perfect eyebrow. "The Thief? Her? Surely not!"

"Oh, I assure you, this is she. She tried to steal my energist, and we somehow ended up transported out of Fanelia just as the city was being attacked. Have you heard anything about it, Allen?"

"I was just about to ask you that, but first, tell me this story of Miss Hitomi stealing your energist. I'd very much like to hear it."

"Allen, we hardly have the time for this, we need to get back to Fanelia!" Van said, impatience written clearly on his face.

"Just tell him or we won't get anywhere." snapped Hitomi, sensing the stubborn airs of both guys.

Fanel flashed her a look of outrage, but, with a growl of frustration, he relented and rattled out a summarized version of the previous nights events. Hitomi and Allen listened in silence, the latter looking fascinated while Hitomi herself lowered her eyes. She didn't want Allen to hear about her embarrassing hissy fit back in the forest.

Luckily, the king skipped over that. "And somehow, I summoned the Escaflowne guymelef armor…"

"Which I still find hard to believe." The knight added.

Fanel only nodded. "And now we're here. We need to get back home."

There was a brief silence, but then Allen finally spoke, looking grave.

"I'm afraid you can't go back, Van. Fanelia was completely destroyed in the attack. Everything was burned down and the citizens are scattered now."

There was more silence. The Thief bit her lip, feeling the bottom of her stomach plummet as her heart sank into despair. Van lowered his eyes until his bangs cast a shadow over them. They said nothing. They didn't have to.

In truth, they had both known that Fanelia had been destroyed. There had been no chance, after such a brutal attack by the mysterious enemy guymelefs. The loss filled the two, and Van's body became numb.

"I'm sorry." Allen said, looking from Hitomi to Van, concerned.

"How could someone do this…?" Van's shoulders began to shake. "How… why…. Fanelia was a peaceful country, we had no sworn enemies!"

Hitomi nodded, feeling Van's pain, for it matched her own. She clutched at the pendant again for comfort. "And now it's all gone…"

Allen, ever the host, stood. "I advise you two to stay. The sun is about to set, and you won't make any progress in the night. Tomorrow, we shall all make a plan as to what to do."

The Thief and the king exchanged brief glances. Not that it mattered, Fanel was making the decisions, but for a moment, Hitomi could have sworn that a crack had appeared in those amber eyes, letting emotion spill out. Pain and anger. But the sign of weakness was quickly gone, replaced once more with a mask of cold stone.

"Alright. Tomorrow, then."

"Yes, tomorrow."

As Hitomi stood, preparing to walk after Van, Allen Schezar caught her hand, holding her back. "Lady Hitomi, I hope you find your night here to be comfortable."

More blushing. Fighting back a nervous laugh, Hitomi forced a smile. "Eh, thank you, Sir Schezar."

"Allen." He corrected, his blue eyes boring into hers.

"Right. Thank you, Allen!" Snatching back her hand, Hitomi turned and hurried after Van, her face bright red.

**:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:**

"Folken! Folken!" A dark voice rumbled, the distorted image of an elderly man flickering onto the large screen.

"Yes, Master?" The Strategos of Zaibach looked up into the screen.

"The dragon has appeared once more before me! Capture the Dragon, capture the Eyes that accompany it!"

"The Eyes, master?"

"Yee-ees…" The man's voice sank into a low hiss. "She may not have found her true powers yet, but she will. Capture them both, so that our destiny may be awakened!"

"Yes." Folken Fanel bowed low as the image of his master faded, then he turned in a swish of his cloak and left the room. He had a lot of work to do, after that mess of Fanelia.

* * *

Yes. Short chapter. For the sake of updating and letting people know I'm alive. Again, you can see that I'm still kinda pinned to the original plot line, but it'll veer off soon enough. As you can see, I already changed how Allen and Van already know each other. Maybe you didn't notice, but I'll clear that up come next chapter. I'm still a bit in the dark as to how this story will exactly move alone, but I'll get there. Reviews are always helpful, of course.

Because I love you all.

**Inda – **Yes! More! More is always good. xD Thanks for the review.

**f-zelda – **Van will be jealous of Allen in time. Hehe, trust me. But that's latermuch. Thanks for teh reviewness!

**Random – **You need to start yelling at me to update or something. I dunno, something. I seem to be failing you on the whole "update soon" thing. But yes, once again, you flatter me too much. Stop. You're making me blush. xD But yeah, Hitomi doesn't know about her powers yet. And I'm trying my best to stop veering towards the cannon plot. Somehow, it did that in the past, like, two chapters. Silly me.

**Macky- **Many thanks for reviewing!

**emina - **Yeah, for this, I definitely need good luck for making chapters soon. But thank you xD

**Kathya – **Heh, silly thief code. But yesh, in my opinion, I'm following the story too closely. Hopefully, I'll be able to steer myself away before making it a bad AU.

**kmmgirly – **Allen drives me up the wall, to be honest. But, I mean, you can't change him. I wish I could, but ya just can't change him. He needs to be a playboy. Damn men. And, hehe, Hitomi and Van will still be dense for quite a while.

**Cherry Dragon – **Thank you for reviewing! Me heart you mucho!

**Banryuu – **Ahh, post soon, indeed. Ah well, I'll try next time. Thank you for the review!

**Abbys – **I try my best to keep all the characters in character, so thank you for telling me that! I love praise, it's really bad to praise me, I might be a swollen ego or something. But thank sooo much for reading and reviewing!

**CapT.BlacK ­­**­– Technically, it's Visions of Escaflowne. And I'm happy that I inspire you! Your parakeet officially rocks. Even if you haven't bought it yet. Haha. You're a carpet bag.

**AmethystWings – **Thank you! It's always good to hear encouragement.


	6. Visions

Another update. Surprise, surprise.

I just realized recently that I never actually wrote about the Mystic Moon yet. I just said "moonlight."… oops.

Otherwise, I have nothing else worth noting to write.

Don't forget to revieewwwwwwww.

* * *

Echelon 

Chapter5 – "Visions of the Devastation"

* * *

_As Hitomi stood, preparing to walk after Van, Allen Schezar caught her hand, holding her back. "Lady Hitomi, I hope you find your night here to be comfortable."_

_More blushing. Fighting back a nervous laugh, Hitomi forced a smile. "Eh, thank you, Sir Schezar."_

"_Allen." He corrected, his blue eyes boring into hers._

"_Right. Thank you, Allen!" Snatching back her hand, Hitomi turned and hurried after Van, her face bright red._

Hitomi hurried after Fanel, her cheeks still pink from Allen's comments. The king kept going down the hall as soon as Hitomi caught up to him.

In silence, the two walked the corridor, which would have been fine, except that they were the only ones in the desolate walkway. Hitomi hated awkward silences and was about to burst and break the deafening quiet when she stopped dead. Van walked on, but in Hitomi's eyes, he faded into a vision. All around her was fire.

_Just like in Fanelia._

"What's going on?" She cried out in fear, getting swept up into the very real dream.

The area that was up in flames; she didn't recognize it until she spotted Allen Schezar climbing into a gleaming guymelef. Following his actions, Hitomi witnessed the fair-headed knight engage in a fight with a crimson melef. She could only watch as Allen was stabbed through the heart and fell to the ground, right besides a broken and bloody Escaflowne.

"Why… is everything burning? What happened to Escaflowne?"

It was then that she realized that the very fort she was staying in, Allen's home, was the one burning. The glow of the blaze lit up the fallen melef armors and the dead bodies of Allen's men. Hitomi saw all of this, horrified as her surroundings were consumed in flames, a copy of the late Fanelia's demise.

"_It's so… hot…"_

As soon as the vision had begun, it was over, flinging the girl back to reality, which instantly began to swim before her eyes. She spotted the back of Van in the haze and struggled for breath. She had to warn him! He was going to die! _Allen _was going to die!

"Fanel!" She gasped. He didn't seem to hear, so she tried once more. "Van…" Her voice failed her almost instantly. The heat around her body intensified, consuming her consciousness just as the flames had devoured Fanelia.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

Deep in thought over what to do next in terms of Fanelia, Van hardly noticed that Hitomi had stopped walking after him.

"Fanel!"

Van Fanel frowned, turning to look at the Thief as he was dragged out of his musings. He had been more than ready to ignore her presence, but the stain of anxiety in her voice had caught his attention.

"Van…"

What he saw fully grasped his interest.

Hitomi Kanzaki was staring at him with wide but glazed eyes. She looked frightened and it didn't seem like she was pretending. Van stepped forward.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't reply. It looked like she couldn't. With a shuddering breath, the Thief began to collapse. Acting on instinct, Van dashed forward, catching the girl right before she hit the floor. Her body was so light, which wasn't surprising, considering her thieving skills.

The reason why Hitomi had passed out quickly became obvious when Van pressed a hand to her damp forehead. "She has a fever…."

_Great, the last thing we need at a time like this._ This was the second time the girl had passed out today. He couldn't help but launch into grumbling and scowling at how Hitomi was such a weakling. There was little patience that he could spare with a girl like her. Hitomi was an endless thorn in his side.

Van scooped her up in his arms carefully, noting how warm her body was from the sudden fever, although where she could have contracted it was beyond his imagination.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

For the second time, Hitomi found herself awakening from a series of nightmares and darkness. This time, however, she didn't wait to adjust to the surroundings, but immediately let her eyes flutter open.

It was night and the room she was in was dark. The light from the Moon and the mysterious Mystic Moon shone through the window nearby, which helped Hitomi see the contents of the room itself.

_How long have I been asleep? _She sat up slowly, feeling sick, hot, and dizzy, but determined to at least get her sense of place in check.

Her own bed was in the corner, while on the far side was another, where she spotted Van, sitting with his sword resting against his shoulder. At first, he seemed to be asleep, but then he raised his head and from the glitter of his open eyes, Hitomi could see that sleep was the farthest thing from his mind.

That was all Hitomi could take before the fever got overwhelming, forcing Hitomi to lie back down. Van stood silently, putting down his royal sword to go over to her.

Too weak to flinch away at his touch, the Thief could only watch as Van took off his right glove and pressed his bare hand to her forehead, which was damp with sweat.

"You've still got a fever." Van said unexpectedly, sitting down on a stool next to the bed, which Hitomi hadn't spotted before.

She nodded, biting back the sarcastic comment of "Well, _obviously_."

What Fanel did next threw Hitomi completely for a loop. Taking a bowl filled with clean, cold water, he dipped a cloth inside, wrung out the water, and placed the wet rag on Hitomi's forehead, cooling it.

Hitomi was confused and a bit surprised at Fanel's sudden show of hospitality. "So why're you-"

"I need to tell you something."

Hitomi blinked.

Van cleared his throat, not meeting her eyes. "You go first."

She didn't need any second urging. "Why're you helping me?" She spoke softly, her voice still not fully recovered. "I'm the Thief, your enemy. It seems to me you'd much rather let me be."

"I'm sure Allen would have preferred to do it, but he's gone on some errands, and I'm the only one here who he can trust not to try anything with you while you're in that weak condition." Van remarked, sounding annoyed with the whole idea.

"I see…." Hitomi turned away. She figured as much.

"Now, I need you to tell me something." Van continued, keeping his voice low. "Why did you pass out? You looked like something was really wrong before you lost consciousness."

A silence settled over the room. Hitomi froze, recalling back to the vision she had had. She had to tell him! Sitting up, she opened her mouth to speak, but then hesitated.

_What if he doesn't believe me?_

"What? What is it?" Van asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

Whether he believed her or not, Hitomi decided that she needed to warn him, even if he thought she had gone insane by the end of her explanation. Taking the wet cloth from her head, Hitomi slowly ran through the vision she had witnessed before she had passed out.

Throughout her explanation, Van's face remained immobile and he said nothing.

"I think the vision I had was a vision of the future. I really think it's going to happen. You and Allen are going to die." Hitomi added in earnest, scanning Van's expression to see if he gave anything away.

"I'm sure it was just a dream." He finally said, shrugging it off.

"But it wasn't! I _know _it wasn't!" Hitomi exclaimed, realizing how anxious she really sounded.

"In any case, it doesn't matter, we're leaving."

"_What?"_ The news was unexpected, to say the least. Hitomi was sick, and the two of them were exhausted still from everything that had happened to them recently. Plus, she wasn't very eager to say goodbye to Allen Schezar just yet.

The King nodded, sounding determined now. "We have no time to waste. Even if your vision is true, which I doubt, I refuse to sit around while that invisible enemy is still out there. We need to get back to Fanelia to search for clues. I understand that Allen means well, but we have to go."

Hitomi protested, she raged, she pointed out all the reasons to stay, she refused to go.

He proposed that she could stay here by herself and he could just leave.

Ten minutes later, she found herself seated on the shoulder of the Escaflowne as it stomped along through the forest, wrapped in a blanket and shivering.

"I hate… you…. Fanel…" She muttered, fighting the urge to throw up. It probably didn't help that she was still in her thin, tight black material from the thieving job the night before. And it was freezing outside, despite the fact that it was the warm season.

There she was, all comfy in bed, considering maybe doing another tarot card reading for fun, when Van had dragged her out of bed, sneaked both of them down to the guymelef hangers, and now they were romping through the forest in the middle of the night. It was ridiculous. Could this not have waited until morning?

Things could not get any worse.

Then Van spoke. It was like a death wish. "I hear something, hold on!"

The Escaflowne lurched forward suddenly, and Hitomi, while scrabbling along the smooth surface, would have probably been able to hold on. But her fever said otherwise and Hitomi went tumbling off the guymelef, squeaking in distress, but Van hardly noticed.

Summoning up all of her energy, Hitomi threw off the blanket as she fell to the ground far below. Lucky that she was in a forest. Numbly, she grabbed a tree branch, letting it bend to her will and lower her safely to the ground.

"Van, you idiot!" She croaked after the retreating back of the melef, and then sighed, coughing as the fever's symptoms spread. There was nothing for it now; she would have to head back, without Van.

_Moron…_ With a glower, Hitomi turned and began the long trek back to Allen's fort. That was the easy part, since the Escaflowne had left an easy trackable path through the dark woods. Coughing and sniffling, the Thief stumbled along the path.

Then her instincts felt a presence nearby. Freezing, she darted into the shadows of a huge oak, her eyes flying this way and that. The cold air and the threat of an enemy had jerked her out of her illness-provoked daze.

_Where? Where are they?_ She knew someone was there. Positive. As she looked off into one direction, there was a huge boom behind her. A guymelef.

No doubt, it was Van, who had finally noticed her missing. She turned, preparing to reprimand him for letting her fall of the Escaflowne, but the words never managed to escape her numb lips.

The crimson guymelef, which had just stepped out of what seemed like a cloak of invisibility, extended a hand slowly. Hitomi's instincts were screaming to run, hide, duck, _anything_, but the fever dulled her senses and all she could do was stare dumbly as the metal fingers closed around her waist.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't the Eyes. Where's your Dragon, witch?" A sneering voice sounded from inside the cockpit.

Shivering, Hitomi raised her green eyes to meet red ones and she knew that perhaps this time, she wouldn't be able to sneak her way out of this one.

* * *

**­­­**Chapter 5, for your viewing pleasuuurreeee. Here's Dilandau! –much squealing from me- 

Otherwise, I have nothing to say. Please don't forget to review! The more reviews, the more stimulation I have to write!

**Inda – **Heh, she found Van, now she lost Van. Yes, more is good! I must write more!

**Macky – **Thankee for the review!

**Kathya – **No problem, thanks for the review xD Hitomi shall have quite a lot of chances to show off, soon. For serious. Once she gets better. Heh.

**f-zelda – **Fast! I did it fast! Yay! Wow. Whether Hitomi will be from the Mystic Moon or not, I'm still thinking about. We'll see –wink-

**Emily** – Well, hi, Emilyly. Thanks for the review... I think xD

**CapT. BlacK – **Gahh, stop arguing about your ridiculous parakeet. And, uh… Valerah? Huh? And was this update soon enough for ya? HUH? SNAKE! And now I'm quite happy I'm not a soybean.


	7. Kidnapping

Meh, meh, meh.

So… howsabout that World Cup, hmm? Yeah, that's what I thought.

… I never have anything to say in these things. Summer hath begun, however, so… yeah, as promised, I shall be updating more often. Seeing as, for work, all I do is sit around at a front desk for 5 hours with absolutely nothing to do, I'll have plenty of time to write up chapters.

…Even though this chapter took forever. I didn't have a drop of writingness in my blood for a while. Sorry 'bout that…

In any case, I've been planning this fic out… kinda. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen later, but I know what to write for the next few chapters. I'm good!

Plus, I got to get to workin' on Hitomi's fluffyness with VAN! Eh, that won't come for a while, but I still can't wait.

Don't forget to review! I love reviews! Lots of 'em! Like ramen! I love ramen!

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 6 – "Kidnapping of the Thief"

* * *

_The crimson guymelef, which had just stepped out of what seemed like a cloak of invisibility, extended a hand slowly. Hitomi's instincts were screaming to run, hide, duck, _anything_, but the fever dulled her senses and all she could do was stare dumbly as the metal fingers closed around her waist._

"_Well, well, well… if it isn't the Eyes. Where's your Dragon, witch?" A sneering voice sounded from inside the cockpit._

_Shivering, Hitomi raised her green eyes to meet red ones and she knew that perhaps this time, she wouldn't be able to sneak her way out of this one._

Van's Escaflowne shuddered to a halt. The forest nightlife was silent and the trees deathly still. Narrowing his eyes, Van listened intently for any sounds, but there were none.

"All the animals are scared off…" He murmured under his breath before raising his voice a bit to talk to Hitomi. "You ok there?"

No reply came. Van assumed that the girl was still sulking over leaving the fort. She was probably not replying simply out of stubbornness, or to annoy him.

_Well, it's working._ He thought, turning in his seat to peer out at the Thief, fully expecting her to be sitting on Escaflowne's shoulder, glaring at him.

The reprimand caught in his throat as soon as he looked over. The girl was gone.

He cursed and turned Escaflowne around. How the hell was she gone? She had just been there! And why did she run? To escape from him? Or perhaps to go back to Allen?

_Or maybe she fell…_ No, that was impossible. Nimble con artists like her didn't just disappear for innocent reasons. Hitomi's disappearance had to be connected to her escaping; there was no doubt about it. Whatever the cause was, Van was certain that it wasn't above suspicion at all.

Thinking about Hitomi only made him angrier. Like he didn't have enough problems. The silence around him was deafening and he was getting a headache from that ever present _thorn_, Hitomi.

"Fine! I'll just go on my own; she can go wherever she wants." He grumbled, turning back to head farther along the path.

Whatever that girl's fate was wasn't his concern. It was irking that he had lost the Thief once more and that the chance to get revenge was lost, but he could deal with it. Right now, the only option was to return to Fanelia and regroup the citizens; perhaps start them on rebuilding. After that, Van would be free to seek revenge on whoever had attacked his previous homeland.

In any case, the King had a gut feeling that he would meet Hitomi again. People like her were like cockroaches, you could never get rid of them.

There was a sudden _woosh_ sound above his head. Van's eyes jerked upwards, but there was nothing there.

"What the…" Accompanying the odd nothingness were flecks of black, being carried along by the light wind that was picking up.

Van's eyes narrowed for the second time as he recognized the mysterious flecks. Ash. And a smell reached him, as well. A smell he knew all too well. Fire. It was coming from behind him. What was behind him? A great span of forest… and _Allen's fort._

Almost cautiously, Escaflowne was turned back around once more. Off in the distance was an orange-yellow glow. That was the fort, alright. Had it been attacked, just as Fanelia had? And, even more frustrating, why the hell was everything getting attacked while Van was there?

The return to Fanelia and the disappearance of the Thief was forgotten. Van began the journey back to Allen's home, wondering what was going on.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

Everything before Hitomi was unraveling before her like in a slideshow mechanism her father had shown her once. Even worse was that Hitomi couldn't help but feel like she was suffering from a case of déjà vu. Besides the fact that she knew that she had seen the now very real images before… in her dreams.

Held tightly in the red melef's hand, Hitomi was scared out of her wits. The terrifying red-eyed man lifted into the air and had then proceeded to soar high above the trees, giving Hitomi a clear view of Allen's fort. She wished he hadn't.

At the sight of the flame-ravaged area, her stomach plummeted to new depths and her heart felt the tug of loss for the second time in two days. Once more, she was given the curse of gazing upon the invisible giants as they wrought destruction mercilessly. Again, she felt helpless.

The melef-pilot laughed under his breath, but Hitomi heard him. He sounded almost crazed, which was even more frightening than the crimson eyes of his.

Forcing herself to turn away from burning building, Hitomi looked forward, instead, to where she was being taken, but there was nothing ahead.

Then a huge hulking _thing_ visualized before her. She held in her surprised gasp as dread filled her up. There was no way she could escape that… _that_.

It was a floating fortress. Huge, bulky, and managing to do the impossible feat of flying, the castle had been implanted on an enormous chunk of rock and was doing it's very best to look as menacing as possible. With the backdrop of the two moons in the dark sky and the ash-filled wind swirling around it, the fortress was succeeding.

_Oh no…_. Hitomi's heart fell to what felt like her feet. How would she get away this time?

A nagging voice told her she wouldn't.

Taking in a shaky breath as the red guymelef maneuvered onto a landing dock, Hitomi had to admit that the circumstances were against her. A flying fortress, hundreds of miles above-ground; captured by a crazy, red-eyed man's melef; no hope of anyone coming to rescue her (not that that was new); and she had the flu to boot.

A small smile perked up the corner of her mouth. She loved a challenge.

* * *

Dear donuts, that was SHORT. Probably my shortest chapter ever, not counting the prologue. I was a bit tied up on what to write or how to update, but I really like this chapter, as short as it is. Actually, I just like Hitomi's POV. I don't know why. But next update will be longer.

I was planning on making this longer, about how Hitomi is treated at the fortress, along with her meeting Folken and Dilandau, and what happens with Van once he reached Allen. But… that'll be next chapter.

I just felt horrible that I hadn't updated, so I decided to give you all at least something to do. Gahhhh.

Anyway, a review for this poor soul would be nice, anyway. You know you want to.

**Kyle- **RAWR! I'm glad you liked the chapters, I try. The name's not Valerah, it's Ler-hah. I don't even know where you got that from….

**Inda- **GOING GOING GOING! WEE!

**f-zelda- **Van, jealous? Not for a while, but we'll get there -grin-

**rina**- I've always loved the whole Van/Hitomi relationship, which explains why I can't stop writing them. xD Thank you for reviewing!

**Macky- **Yup, yup, thanks for the review.

**abbys**- I'm glad you like my characters, I'm trying to keep them in character, while adding my own style to them. Van is a stubborn poo, while Hitomi is still her emotional, albeit clever, thiefy person. The story's gonna start branching from the anime story line soon enough, though. Or, at least, I'm gonna try. Thank you for your review!

**AmethystWings- **Unique relationship, indeed. A hate/hate one xD

**ZanyQuipser- **New reviewer! Yay! Thanks your reviewwww!


	8. Mishaps

….

-hides-

Yes, I know I haven't updated. Writer's block snuck up and put me into a choke hold for over a month, what can I say?

So that's why I decided to get back to this. Because… it had to be updated.

Obviously.

Waiting for inspiration took too long…

I also read through the first few chapters and spotted a lot of painful mistakes. Like… past tense, present tense confusion. Van calls Hitomi the "daughter of the bookkeeper" before he even knows who she is. I keep saying "He" over and over in one paragraph. Ugh. One day, I'll go back and edit all of that, I swear.

Anyways, thank you, all, for putting up with my procrastination xD

I don't understand Gundam.

…

Onto the story!

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 7 – "Mishaps on a Flying Fortress"

* * *

_Taking in a shaky breath as the red guymelef maneuvered onto a landing dock, Hitomi had to admit that the circumstances were against her. A flying fortress, hundreds of miles above-ground; captured by a crazy, red-eyed man's melef; no hope of anyone coming to rescue her (not that that was new); and she had the flu to boot._

_A small smile perked up the corner of her mouth. She loved a challenge._

All around the docking area, uniformed men scurried this way and that, dealing with other melefs who had just flown in before. Even captive, she absorbed the scene, checking for any possible escape routes.

A timid voice suddenly came from the guymelef's feet. "Lord Dilandau! Lord Folken has requested that you immediately take the Eyes to him and return to the fort!"

Hitomi looked down to see a blond crown of hair belonging to another soldier. She was mildly surprised at how young he looked. He was probably her age. And already a soldier for Zaibach? Intriguing.

"Typical Folken." The man named Dilandau sneered as the piloting seat opened and he hopped out. Now Hitomi had full view of her kidnapper, this… Lord Dilandau.

"An albino?" She said under her breath, noting the short, silvery hair and paper-white skin of the teen. At least that explained the demonic, crimson eyes. His elegant face might have been pleasant, but there was an aura about him that just made him evil. Maybe it was the scowl on his face or perhaps his military uniform. Either way, Hitomi knew that she couldn't underestimate him.

Still confined within the Crima Claw's grasp, the Thief could only watch as Dilandau stomped over to the young soldier.

"Take care of the Alseides, Chesta." He barked, sweeping past him. Chesta nodded obediently, calling over another group of soldiers to take care of the guymelef. The pale man, meanwhile, went over to look Hitomi over. His catch, his "prize."

In all honesty, he had no idea what Folken needed with a little wench like her. "The Eyes," he called her. Another sneer grew on his colorless lips. This girl was probably no older than 16. What harm could she do to Zaibach or the 4 Great Armies? Now the Dragon, that was different. That pipsqueak of a King had awoken the powerful Escaflowne, a guymelef of legends. Apparently, the King and the wench were connected to the Escaflowne and whatever Folken and his Master were planning. Pathetic, what the world was coming to, really.

He grazed his eyes over every inch of Hitomi, who glared at him in defiance all the while. Dilandau's analysis only widened his derisive smirk. By her ashen skin and the shivers that occasionally racked her body, it was obvious that the girl was ill, weak, and no doubt, frightened out of her wits. Who wouldn't be?

She would be easy prey to whatever… "questioning" Folken would put her through.

As Chesta clambered up into the Alseides piloting seat, Dilandau snapped out an order to him.

"Disable the Crima Claw!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Chesta replied tentatively and disappeared from view for a moment. Seconds later, the strange morphing metal unwound itself from Hitomi's body, depositing her on the floor as the substance disappeared back into the guymelef.

A soft gasp escaped from the girl's mouth as she plummeted to the steel ground, thudding into it. Dilandau watched with interest as she struggled to move, but it appeared that her limbs would not support her, so she remained in a limp pile. A weakling. He was right. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the girl around the shoulders and wrenched her up, but she didn't catch her footing properly. She stumbled forward, knocking into him with a shudder. The moment her clammy hands slapped into his chest, Dilandau let out a snarl of disgust and thrust her away until she was arm's length away from him.

He didn't realize that putting a prisoner out at arm's length wasn't very safe. For him.

It all happened in a flash. Hitomi's green eyes shot up, a small smirk on her face as she brought her hands down hard on the underside of his elbows. In a natural reaction, Dilandau's hands shot up, releasing Hitomi's shoulders. He didn't even have time to widen his eyes in surprise when the girl was up and away, running to the far side of the docking area and turning right into a hallway leading into the heart of the Flying Fortress.

Dilandau, possessing more wits than a regular soldier, recovered quickly from his shock. The girl had tricked him. That had been a clever move, he'd admit. Very clever. After snarling at the foot soldiers around him to follow the girl, he licked his lips, calmly walking after. That little stunt the wench had pulled only made her better prey in his eyes.

The hunt was on.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

Not even allowing herself a triumphant snicker, Hitomi continued to dash down the hall, skipping around workers and skidding by military soldiers. Damnit, why were there so many people in this stupid fortress?

Turning right, she finally made it into a deserted corridor. Slowing down to a jog, she proceeded to take a few more turns to throw off the frightening albino and his goons. Her pace eventually simmered down to a steady walk. Where now? There was no way to get off a floating fortress without something that flew, and Hitomi had no idea how to pilot a guymelef.

Perhaps she could sneak on a ship that would be leaving the flying castle. Surely, there had to be at least one ship on here. But, first things first. She needed to find a good hiding place.

The fortress, although at first appearing to be purely military, was seemingly made of steel, metal, and iron. The floors were steel, as were the walls, and the ceilings, and the doors. Everything as the same bland color. It was quite eerie and the cold lights that were attached to the walls cast weird shadows everywhere, not helping any to the overall appearance. Hitomi paused in a doorway, listening again for any sounds of her pursuers.. It was lucky that she was still dressed in her Thief outfit. The soft leather boots she wore were soundless against the steel flooring.

Satisfied with the silence around her, Hitomi sighed in relief, leaning against the door behind her. Or, at least, she had been planning on leaning on the door. Her muscles had not even relaxed before she heard a storm of yelling and footsteps somewhere farther down the hall. Not time to rest, then. Drawing in a slow breath, Hitomi quickly snuck off again, going down, then turning right into a hallway that seemed to lead away from the chase group. She breathed lightly, exhilarated with the thrill of the pursuit.

The problem was that the metallic corridor was incredulously long and there was no way that Hitomi would be able to sneak her way down the whole thing without someone catching up. There was nothing for it. She broke into a run, making as little sound as possible.

"Here! I think she went through here!" A voice called out somewhere not too far off. In curiosity, Hitomi glanced back for a moment to see if anyone was following, but the hall was empty but for her. She turned her head back to face forward, but the way was no longer clear. Someone was standing in her way. Uttering a gasp, Hitomi stumbled into the body and began to fall back, but strong arms caught her just in time.

Or, at least, one strong arm. The other arm was prosthetic! Hitomi flinched as the dragon-like claws of the steel limb curled around her waist. Her eyes flew up look at whoever had kept her from falling.

She gasped again, a shiver running down her spine at what she saw. Dull, brown eyes stared down at her past bangs of teal hair. The steel arm tightened on her waist, the claws digging into her flesh as the man pulled her up and he began to speak. Hitomi couldn't help but flinch again at the cold tone.

"When I asked Dilandau to deliver the Eyes to me, I didn't except her to come running to me herself."

The prosthetic hand slowly moved up to curl around her neck. At first, Hitomi's heart froze in fear that the man was about to strangle her. Instinctively, she let out a soft cry and began struggling, pulling away helplessly at the steel claws as she flailed her legs around, attempting to get a kick in.

She almost missed it, but a flicker of sadness past through the stone-like eyes of the man. A small needle from one of his fake fingers pricked her neck. The effects of the poison began almost immediately. As her legs collapsed beneath her and her body went limp, she could see in her fading vision that her attacker was picking her up and beginning to speak with someone she couldn't see or hear. It was as if someone had plugged her ears, blocking out all sounds of the world.

For the third time in such a short period, Hitomi was fading into a world of velvety, peaceful darkness. It was getting ridiculous, really. First she had nearly been attacked by a mole man, then she had gotten sick, and now this?

Even worse was that she now recognized who the man was from the Fanelian History book she had stolen not too long ago.

It was Folken Fanel.

* * *

There ya go. Kinda forced this one out. Can't help but feel I'm missing something. Maybe it's normal for an author to think that something is wrong with a story?

I dunno. This chapter was supposed to be dramaticy, but it kinda came out dull and boring.

I figured out another little clever twist for meself. Seeing as Hitomi doesn't have Amano as a love interest in the story… she's going to have to find someone else, isn't she? I'll let you all figure out who :P

Anyway. Reviews would be appreciated!

**Kathya- **Another short one, alas. Yay for Italy, I suppose. Even though the Cup ended months ago xD

**Inda- **Van/Hitomi action will be coming up in a chapter or two! xD

**Shizuka-naTenshi- **Thanks, I thought for a long time on what he should compare her to. And thank you, I'll enjoy my very boring job xD

**CapT. BlacK- **There ya go. Penname again. I loved that poem, thanks. xD

**f-zelda – **Dilly's pretty evil in this, I dunno, I'll try to control myself, but he's so much fun to write xD

**abbys- **Ahh, thank you so much! I'm really concentrating on my pacing, so thanks!

**ramzah...- **Here ya go. An update just for you. You made me feel horrible that I hadn't updated. xD


	9. Return

So. I haven't updated in… over three months.

GAH! I deserve to be shot with sharpened sporks… wahhh.

But I'm starting again! I swear! After a great deal of me struggling through writers block, and laziness, I'm back again! And re-watching Escaflowne.

To be honest, I've forgotten most of my plot. But I'm piecing it together again. I still need to work Merle in here someone, but I'll figure it out, no worries!

This one has Folken in it. Which makes me happy. (Cue "Chain" playing)

* * *

Echelon

Chapter 8 - "Return of an Heir"

* * *

_For the third time in such a short period, Hitomi was fading into a world of velvety, peaceful darkness. It was getting ridiculous, really. First she had nearly been attacked by a mole man, then she had gotten sick, and now this?_

_Even worse was that she now recognized who the man was from the Fanelian History book she had stolen not too long ago. _

_It was Folken Fanel._

Hitomi was struggling through a sea of black, trying to reach a distant light that would return her to consciousness. A faint tune was piercing her mind. Someone was whistling. The song sounded sad, wistful even. The Thief recognized it, though. It was an old Fanelian song. Her mother had always sung it to her when she had been a little girl.

Was she back in Fanelia? Had it all just been a dream?

Thoughts of her mother brought back painful memories of Fanelia burning. Her parents were smiling as the walls around their bookstore crumpled into flaming wreckage. Hitomi cried out in alarm, trying to reach out and save them.

"M-Mother…" She moaned, turning over. Still, the dark did not dissipate from her mind. In fact, it only seemed to deepen. Her mother and father were fading into the abyss of flame and darkness, lost to the destruction.

The whistling abruptly stopped at the sound of her voice. The girl didn't notice. The whole world was drifting away once more.

"… mother…" Hitomi's voice died down to a whisper before she returned to her drug-induced stupor.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

Meanwhile, Van had returned to Fort Costello. The entire place was destroyed, and many defeated men and guymelefs littered the ground as victims of the attack. In the distance, he could see the enemies, torching and destroying. Closer to him was a dark gray armor, standing and surveying the scene. It was Scherazade, Allen's melef. Van ran forward, disgusting by the slaughter.

"Allen! What happened?"

Scherazade turned slowly to face Escaflowne. The face plate lifted to reveal Allen's startled face. "Van! What are you doing here?"

Now it was Fanel's turn to look surprised. "What do you mean? I came to help!"

"I thought that allowing you to leave without resistance would put some distance between you and Zaibach. You weren't supposed to come back!" The Knight growled, looking frustrated.

A frown appeared on Van's features. So Zaibach was involved in this, just as he had suspected. "What does this have to do with me?"

"They're looking for you, Van. They want Escaflowne." Allen said in a low voice. The Zaibach melefs in the distance were getting closed. "Come on, follow me, I'll explain on the way."

The Scherazade turned to leave. Van moved to block its path, looking furious as he gestured around at the flaming carnage. "You're running away? After what they did to your men? Why don't you fight them?"

"The castle has fallen, we must withdraw! I refuse to allow any more lives to be lost! There's no way we can hold off the enemy now." said Allen impatiently, glaring at Van.

Van raised his sword as a gleam came to his eye. "And you call yourself a knight? If you won't fight to avenge this place, I will! For Fanelia! I'd rather die than see those invisible melefs continue causing destruction. I won't turn my back on my enemy!"

The blonde knight's voice filtered through Van's rising battle lust. He sounded furious. "No! That is not what you're here for, Van! Don't throw your life away so easily! You are the King of Fanelia. You must live on to rebuild your city! As long as you and your people are alive, Fanelia still has a future!"

Van's eyes widened as he turned back to face Allen, but the knight continued to speak. "There is nothing honorable and brave about rashly choosing to die. We are meant to save others, that is our purpose in life. Or did you forget that?"

A brief tense moment passed between the two men before, with a growl of defeat, Van lowered Escaflowne's battle sword, looking for the world like he'd like nothing better than to go and run his sword through some melefs. "Alright, let's go."

"Good. Follow me." Allen nodded and turned, leading the way to the back of the city.

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

_She was having the _Dream_ again. She hadn't had it in weeks, but it was back again. The same one, every single time. Hitomi had long since given trying to decipher its meaning, but that didn't mean it did not disturb her any less. _

_It always started out differently. A normal dream. But it ended the same. _

_She now stood in an open field, surveying the beauty of Gaea. This was a dream, she knew. _

_The field then burst into flames. With a yell of horror, Hitomi turned and began running. But her way was blocked by a set of fierce red eyes, looking at her in a way as if they wished to swallow her whole. She stood still, trembling before the eyes when Allen burst through, slashing through the image. He had come to save her._

"_Allen!" Hitomi cried gratefully. But Allen quickly changed to Van, who only pointed at her in fury._

"_This is your entire fault, Thief! See what you have done?" _

"_Wh-what? Fanel? But… I didn't do anything!" She gasped, horrified. The King slowly motioned around him. The entire forest, the field, Gaea, was burning. _

_This is my fault? Hitomi stumbled backwards. But running away wouldn't help. The fire was everywhere. Even Allen couldn't save her now. "Please, no! I didn't do anything! I didn't want this to happen… please…"_

_Then came the Dream. The fragile ground below her ruptured and caved in. Losing her footing, Hitomi began falling into an endless void. Surely, this was her death. Surely, now, she would die. It was all over. _

_But it couldn't be! She wanted to _live_! She had so much more she wanted to do in life! As her hands clawed at the empty air and gravity pulled her down, there was a flash above. Feathers began falling around her as a dark figure flew down with his hand outstretched._

_He had come to save her. Hitomi reached out, taking her savior's hand. _

_The Dream came to an end._

Hitomi shuddered, her eyes sliding open slowly. Her memory came flooding back. The albino, the red guymelef. The floating fortress and Folken Fanel.

She blinked, staring up at a metallic city of a dimly lit room. Her vision swam a bit. Obviously an aftereffect of the poison. Carefully sitting up, she continuing blinking to clear her vision. There was still a chance she could get out of here. Unless this dark room was a heavily reinforced cell. Then that would be a problem. As she looked around, something stirred out of the corner of her eye.

Hitomi gasped. Folken Lacour de Fanel, who had been sitting silently in a corner, was now standing to face her.

"… you're Folken Fanel!"

Her gaze ran over the spiky teal hair and purple tattoos on his face, one of which was in the shape of a tear under his right eye. This was a very different Folken from the one in the text books and stories. Then again, according to the text books and stories, Folken was dead. After disappearing ten years ago from a failed coronation ceremony in which he was supposed to have obtained an energist from a dragon, it was only natural to assume that he had died. But there he was, looking cold and almost frightening. Especially with the dragon-like artificial arm.

But to work for Zaibach? Hitomi had never expected that. Because now she knew where she was. She had recognized the crests that were emblazed on each door. Not to mention that Zaibach was known for its floating fortresses. So what was Folken, heir to Fanelia, now believed dead, doing on a Zaibach floating fortress?

His cold eyes showed neither joy nor sadness. They were hollow orbs. "So you know me, girl?"

"You're Van Fanel's brother. Original heir to the throne." Hitomi said softly, staring at him from the bed she had been sleeping on moments before.

The teal-haired man's handsome brow creased just a fraction at her words. He looked ominous in the dark atmosphere of the room. Half his face was hidden in shadow, which added to the effect. "What's your name, girl?"

Hitomi hesitated, not willing to disclose anything to the man, but she was hardly in a position to argue. Keeping her eyes on his, she answered slowly. "… my name is Hitomi Kanzaki of Fanelia, sir."

Folken spoke again, his deep, mellow voice filling the small room. "Hitomi Kanzaki, I apologize for Dilandau's behavior from before. He is not known for his self-control."

So the albino was called Dilandau? The name didn't sound familiar. Hitomi frowned slightly. "What are you going to do with me?" She asked suspiciously.

"You are the Eyes. My Master requires you, as well as the Dragon, Van Fanel. Dilandau is capturing him as we speak. And…" Folken dryly added. "… no doubt, killing everything in his path. Including Allen Schezar."

She swallowed, staring at Folken as her hand came up to nervously clasp her pendant. The image of Allen and Van dying from before flicked back into Hitomi's mind. Was her vision about to come true again? She couldn't just sit by and allow that to happen! Her green eyes widened as she sat up even more, yelling out in desperation. "No! You can't do this! We haven't done anything!"

Folken Fanel turned to leave. "I'm afraid, Hitomi Kanzaki, that you have no choice in the matter."

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

"Allen, what's going on?" Van demanded as the two guymelefs ran through a forest behind Fort Costello. He was certainly not known for his patience.

As promised, the Caeli Knight provided an explanation. "While Hitomi was sick, a Zaibach floating fortress came to supposedly restock their supplies. Since Zaibach is allies with Asturia, I found nothing suspicious in that. But when Dilandau Albatou, Captain of Zaibach's Dragon Slayers came leading the group… I began to have my worries. He asked if I saw any suspicious guymelefs in the area and I realized that Zaibach already knew you were here. And Dilandau seemed to know I was lying as well."

Van frowned as Allen mentioned the albino. He had heard of the Dragon Slayers. Albatou piloted the Alseides, a red melef. "So they were after Escaflowne? Why?"

"Not only Escaflowne. They were after Hitomi as well, I think. After Dilandau left, I went to warn you two, but you were gone. I didn't stop you, as you noticed. I realized that it was probably better that you had managed to leave without anyone noticing, although considering Hitomi's condition… Where is she, anyway?"

"I lost her. I think she ran away from me." Fanel replied angrily. He had nearly forgotten about the Thief. But now that she seemed to be involved in this, he was angry that she was gone. A constant, _ever constant_ thorn.

Allen didn't sound too pleased. "I have a feeling that Dilandau may have captured her. I was wondering why he came late to the scene. But he's there now, burning everything in sight."

"So where are we going now?"

"We're leaving on the _Crusade_ and heading to Asturia." Allen replied calmly, glancing at Van through his face plate. He saw Van's look of outrage and sighed. "But I think we will have to follow Zaibach first and get Hitomi back."

Van seemed content with that idea, and looked even happier when the forest thinned out. They stopped at the edge of a cliff. Nearby was a large waterfall, which poured down into a river below. "Fine. But where's the _Crusade_?"

"Follow me." Allen said amusedly as he grabbed Van's arm and wrenched him from the cliff edge. Van yelled in surprise, wondering why the knight had decided to have the two of them fall to their deaths, when the _Crusade_ itself flew out of the waterfall just in time.

Scherazade landed neatly on one of the two levistones, while Van scrabbled for a hold on the second, finding his balance at the last second.

"Ok there, Van?"

The young king felt heat rise up on the back of his neck as he growled, knowing that Allen had an amused smirk on his face even though he could not see him. He said nothing, controlling his anger. The blonde was about to say something else when one of his men, Kio, yelled from the control room. "Sir! Look behind you!"

Simultaneously, the two men turned around. Five melefs, with the Alseides in the lead, were on their tails.

"Looks like we're not out of this one yet."

And they had been so close, too.

* * *

Woo. That was a lot of stuff to write.

I think I hurried this one and didn't put in enough detail. So much that … it sucked. Well, damn.

Since I'm gonna go back soon and edit some of my annoying mistakes in the other chapters, this one might be up for rewriting, too. We'll see.

Review kthx!

**Marzy- **Aw, c'mon, Mar, you stopped at Chapter five… gotta keep going! Heh. You're right; I have a problem with my POV changing a bit too much. I've been trying to clean that up a little. And, haha, here's where the problem of you never having watched Escaflowne before comes in. You actually like Allen. Pfeh. Yes, the pendant is pretty dang important.

**Evil SS- **Oh my donuts, you're too nice to me. I love you. Thank you. xD Your review fills me with joyful goodness. But I feel terrible that I didn't update soon. I'm horrible to my readers. And yes, I guarantee you that Van and Hitomi will get together in this one. Ba ha.

**CapT. Black- **You confuse me. But thanks for reviewing :D

**yoo rin- **Wee! Thank you for your review!

**Macky- **Well, here's a continue for ya. Thanks for your review.

**rukz- **Glad you liked the chapter!

**peaceful blossom- **Thanks!

**Kathya- **I have failed you in my frequent updates promise. Wahh. But anyway, thanks, I was waiting to bring Folken in, he's one of my favorite characters. How is Hitomi going to get off? Ooo, you'll see.

**Kida Satsuki- **Thanks for your review! I love reviews! I love reviewers! Wee

**Inda- **xD I'm trying! Thankee much for j00r reviewness!


	10. Rescue

Wow. Once again, I have failed to update on a regular basis. No wonder I don't get any reviews anymore xD

I think for about, four months, the complete urge to write something left me. I just didn't want to do anything. But now, I return! I actually want to write these days. Go me.

It's pouring outside. But at least spring finally started. Yeesh. Yippee for being home, sick. Stupid flu.

Thank you, everyone, for all your reviews!

Ba-la-laika!

* * *

**Echelon**

**Chapter 9 - "Rescue of the Thief"**

"... unbelievable." To be perfectly honest, Hitomi Kanzaki was completely stumped. Usually, when one was captured, they were thrown into a cell to be later tortured or killed. Although, this really was the first time that the Thief had been caught. So far, Hitomi had been left alone in the cold living quarters with absolutely nothing to do and immersed in the silence that was complete seclusion. And Hitomi _hated_ being left with nothing occupy herself with. Even Van's company was preferable to this.

Her green eyes softened considerably at the thought of the rowdy King. "Wonder how he is now...? And Allen..."

Allen. The knight with long blonde hair and soul-shaking blue eyes. A knot formed in her stomach, just thinking about him. The man was almost... angelic.

_Maybe he's my angel. My savior from the dream. Wings would be very appropriate for him._

Definitely not Van, though, that was certain. The self-centered jerk was too full of himself to go out and save anyone. _Hmph._

Growing bored, the girl set to work in finding a way out. If a rescue was coming, which was unlikely, it wouldn't be arriving soon anyway. The obvious became clear within fifteen minutes. There was absolutely no exit from the room, aside from the tightly locked steel door. The air-cycling grate in the ceiling was welded shut, there were no windows, and every single thing here seemed to be been created from metal. Like a big, steel box. How irksome.

Hitomi slumped against the edge of the stiff bed, glaring briefly at the stubborn, unmoving door before pulling out the possessions that were still hidden in her clothes.

Her pendant, tarot cards, maps, and... her lock-pick kit.

A triumphant grin slid onto her lips. "Excellent."

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

"... unbelievable." Van grunted, shaking his head in disbelief.

Allen was inclined to agree, nodding. "Indeed."

At the very brink of an oncoming battle, Dilandau and his other five guymelefs had retreated, flying away into the approaching dawn before even attacking.

"What do you think that was about?" asked the Fanelian King after they had stored their melefs in the hangar of the Crusade.

"I'm not sure, but I think we'll find out once we catch up to the fortress." Allen grimly replied, leading the way to the deck.

As the Crusade raced onwards to save Hitomi, Van had found, to his horror, the mole man from before settled comfortably on the deck. Once introductions were over, and Van was restrained from killing the old burglar, Allen joined them and they set down to discuss how exactly to track the floating fortress. It had disappeared from sight not too long ago, thanks to its cloaking system.

To Van's displeasure, it was the mole man who proposed the first sensible idea.

"Well..." he lisped, pushing back the small glasses nestled on his nose, "da floatin' fortresh is on a levitation rock, ishn't it? So the reashonable explanation ish that it would go to join its fellows? To the place... where da wanderin' earth collects."

"That's it!" Allen exclaimed, startling Van. "Levistones!"

Fanel still didn't get it. If anything, he was even more confused that the knight was agreeing with the old man. "... what?"

"The Zaibach floating fortress is powered by levistones, so a levistone site would be the ideal place for it to hide."

Fueled with a newly created plan, the Crusade, its crew, Allen, Van, and the mole man had gone off once again in pursuit of Zaibach. And they had found them. It took a power decrease in the Crusade's own levitation stones to drop the ship and slam directly into the floating fortress. All the while, Allen stormed the deck, barking out orders. The anchor was released and the sails unfurled. The crew of the Crusade cheered in triumph. They were now directly across from the enemy's hangar.

As the ship shot forth the extension bride to the entrance, Van struggled to keep his jaw from dropping at the fact that Allen's idea had actually worked. He rolled his eyes instead, keeping up his hard expression and stony silence.

His inner struggle did not go unnoticed. Allen, who stood next to him, smirked and raked a gloved hand through his golden locks.

"Don't look so surprised, Van."

"Hn." Beginner's luck, that was all.

Roaring, the men raced into the heavily enforced fortress. Zaibach soldiers were flooding out from every corner to meet the oncoming attack. Van and Allen raced side-by-side into the heart of the floating castle, causing immeasurable damage, before their road split.

"You go down and find the holding cells!" Allen yelled, running down the leftward path without a backwards glance.

Indignant, anger flared up in Van's royal stomach as he watched the blonde prick run off. _How dare he command me like I'm one of his pathetic men! _Even worse, Allen's words had held logic. The Thief _would_ most likely be found in the holding cells. Snarling out in annoyance, the young king dashed forward, slashing anyone through who got into his way.

The farther and lower Van ran, the fewer soldiers he met. It seemed that the greater part of the Zaibach force was concentrated on the upper levels and no one was bothering to protect the holding cells. Meaning that there was nothing _worth_ protecting in the holding cells.

Cursing softly under his breath, Van kept up the pace. If Hitomi wasn't in the cells, that could only mean she was being held under heavier security elsewhere in the fortress. _But why? They didn't pick up Hitomi by chance, it was a purposeful kidnap. Does she have something they want? Or maybe the damn thief did something to get on their bad side..._

Either way, Van was apparently now heading in the wrong direction and Allen would reach the girl first. An unexpected wave of anger tore through the king. _Allen _would_, the blond idiot... hogging Hitomi to himself... wait a minute._

Van nearby stopped in the hall, only barely managing to keep up his running speed. What was he doing, thinking about Allen and Hitomi like that? Allen was a good friend and an ally of Fanelia. Hitomi was the farthest thing from. She was a nuisance, a low-life thief... _with her stupid mocking laugh and boyish brown hair... well, it's not really brown, more of a honey color... SHUT UP, VAN!_

Mentally screaming at himself, Van Fanel shook his head violently to rid himself of his traitorous thoughts. Bad Van. _Bad_ Van. Thinking about Hitomi in even the slightest positive way was ... well, against just about everything he believed in. Bad Van.

The endless corridors suddenly dipped down into a short set of stairs. Jumping the entire set, Van stopped. The air was cold here and along all the walls were steel doors. Obviously, he had reached the prison cells. And obviously, there was no one here. Forcing himself to stay calm, the raven-haired king walked carefully down the corridor, his boot making harsh clanking sounds with each step. It was as barren as a desert. Completely empty, as were all the cells. He even checked a few. All were dusty.

"Seems like a lot of these haven't been used..." He muttered, slowly making his way to the end of the holding chamber.

"V-Van-sama? VAN-SAMA! OVER HERE!"

The king stiffened immediately at the sound of the frantic squeal. Turning, he looked over at the very last prison cell. A small furry hand had squeezed itself through the bars in the small window near the top of the door. At first, Van could hardly believe his ears, but soon he was running forward to grasp the small paw-like hand.

"Merle! Merle, is that you?" He gasped, peering into the all too familiar cerulean eyes.

"Van-sama, it is me! I've missed you so much, Van-sama! After Fanelia burned..."

A young cat girl with bright pink hair was locked in the cell, frantically trying to paw at the king outside her door. Fanel let out a laugh, unable to keep a relieved grin from his lips. Finally, someone who he could talk to. Merle was his long-time friend from the castle. They had grown up together.

"Merle, what are you doing here? What happened to Fanelia?"

Shimmering tears filled up in the cat-girl's eyes. "Oh, Van-sama! Everything burned to the ground! Nothing has been left! It was so horrible! And all of the people, we are all scattered, and I couldn't find you! So I tried to follow you, but these big guymelefs caught me! I'm so glad you're here, Van-sama!"

Merle's words caused Van's eyes to harden. With what Allen had said before confirmed... it made something deep inside Van rear up and claw at the surface, shrieking in rage at Zaibach and the wrong that it had done to Fanelia. Not daring himself to speak, lest he did something more or less _violent_, the young king released Merle's hand to take a look at the door. It was entirely constructed from steel, but the lock hanging from the door appeared different.

Cheap metal, probably mixed with tin. Gritting his teeth, he kept his eyes on the target. "Step back, Merle."

A sudden scampering sound from within the cell was all Van needed to hear. With a loud yell, he lifted his leg and put all of the force he had into kicking the lock. There was a sharp clang of steel against steel, then, a very satisfying clatter of two halves of the broken lock falling to the ground. Inside, Merle hurriedly pushed open the door and flung herself at the raven-haired boy.

She wrapped her limbs around him, eagerly nuzzling his head and licking away at his face. "VAN-SAMAAA!" Her eager screaming echoed throughout the entire vacant hall.

"M-Merle! Cut it out!" Van chuckled, allowing some of his rage to dissipate for the girl's sake. "C'mon, we need to get going, the fortress is being attacked and I have to find someone."

The pink-haired furry was more than happy to oblige, nimbly sidling off of Van and grabbing his hand. "Let's go!"

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

"C'mon, c'mon, you stupid... stupid lock." Hitomi muttered, gritting her teeth as the door's lock refused to accept yet another lock-picking tool of hers. That had been her last one. The steel padlock refused to budge. Her effortless were, sadly, fruitless. It was locked from the outside and her tools had absolutely no effect. The situation was beginning to look bleak.

"Not to mention that I'm absolutely starving." moaned Hitomi, rubbing her growling stomach with a sigh.

Scowling, and slightly disappointed, the Thief sat back on her heels, giving the door her best death glare. The lock easily ignored that, too. Then, unexpectedly, the pink pendant hidden beneath her shirt pulsed gently, sending out warmth through her body. _A warning?_ Seconds later, the entire room began to shake violently. Hitomi tumbled over onto her rear as a result, eyes wide with startlement. Crashing and yelling sounded outside her door as soon as the floor stopped moving.

"What's going on?" the girl gasped, scrambling to her knees to press an ear to the door in hopes of hearing something.

"_Invaders at the holding deck! All men to the holding deck!"_

"_Hurry, hold off the invaders!"_

"_They're bounty hunters! Hurry!"_

"_All men to the holding deck!"_

Hitomi suddenly grinned. Bounty hunters! It had to be Allen! They had actually come to rescue her. She would have to wait until trying to call out for help. For all she knew, the guard outside her cell could still be standing there.

So she settled back to wait, patiently listening to the changes in noises outside of her room, using her keen senses to pick out the male voices that would sound familiar. Above all else, she frantically listened for Allen's voice, knowing that above all else, he would be the one to come to her door and save her. A small blow to her pride, perhaps, as Hitomi did not exactly appreciate the position of Damsel in Distress, but it was a price to pay. She had no choice.

An abrupt gurgle from outside her door signaled the demise of her guard, and footsteps were already hurrying away. Hitomi went into action, slamming her fists against the steel frame of the door with all her might before her savior ran off. "HELP! HELP! OVER HERE!"

Nothing. No voices, no sounds of a lock opening from the outside. Whoever had killed the guard was gone. Growing angrier, Hitomi threw logic to the wind and began taking out her fury on the door. "Let me out! Let! Me! Out! Open this damn door, you bastards, or I'll open it for you! Let me out of-"

She kept this up for a while, screaming obscenities and whacking away at the metallic entryway. Once again, her pendant sent out pulsating warmth as a gentle glow started up in its depths. Out of nowhere, the door opened. Hitomi blinked, her fists hovering in the air where they had just been about to slam back into the metal exit. "-here?"

In an instant, excitement choked up her throat. Was it Allen? It had to be Allen. It couldn't be anyone else! "Allen! I'm so gla-Van?"

Indeed, it was Van Fanel that stood in the doorframe. The king had an unreadable expression on his face, but he didn't seem to have heard what the thief had said. He pulled Hitomi to her feet and instantly latched his hands onto her shoulders, staring into her eyes intently while studying her face.

"Hitomi! You're alright? What happened, did they hurt you anywhere?"

Hitomi could only stare into his auburn irises, mouth agape. Since when did Van worry about her safety? Or properly remember to call her by her first name? "I-I'm fine, Fanel."

The proper use of his last name seemed to bring Van back to his senses. He hurriedly released Hitomi and, finding that he had nowhere to put his hands, folded them across his chest. As he was pulling away, looking uncharacteristically flushed, a little cat girl decided to place herself in front of Hitomi and sniff at her. "Ne, Van-sama, who is this girl? She smells strange."

"Gah!" Hitomi pulled away, horrified. "Wait... Merle?"

Hitomi recognized the cat girl from Fanelia. Merle had come in often to her father's bookstore. Merle's last visit, she and Hitomi had argued over Van's pomposity, with Merle insisting that the king was as angelic and perfect as he could possibly be, while Hitomi bluntly noted that Fanel was angelic as a pig.

"Hey, I know you! Hitomi Kanzaki! The bookstore keeper's daughter! You're the one who said that Van-sama was an arrogant prick!"

"Good to know that you remember me." Hitomi said blandly, frowning.

Van was flabbergasted. Even in the midst of a crisis, the two girls still managed to start arguing. "Hold on, you two know each other? Merle, you-wait? Arrogant prick?" He turned on Hitomi. "I'm not an arrogant prick, thief!"

Merle's tail went rigid. "Thief? Are you saying that Hitomi is The Thief? _The _Thief? The one that snuck into the castle?"

Before Hitomi could reply, a noisy commotion broke out at the other end of the hall. More soldiers were coming. The thief cleared her throat as she glanced over at the dead body of her guard. "I'd really love to discuss this, but I don't think now's the time!"

For once, the king and the thief agreed. Van nodded, turning. "Let's go."

Wordlessly, the three began running down the hall, Van leading. He knew that this was the general direction towards the hangar; so hopefully, they'd wind up there soon. The raven-haired king allowed himself a small grin. Who was going to be showing back up at the Crusade with Hitomi? He was. Not Allen. Score for Van.

"Company!" Hitomi said hurriedly, nodding at the far end of the hall they had turned into. Indeed, a group of Zaibach men were blocking the way out into what appeared to be the hangar. Relieved that at least it wasn't Folken or Dilandau, the thief pressed her hand briefly to her necklace for luck before looking over at the king running beside her. He had already drawn his sword.

"Stay behind me! I'll take care of them." He barked. Merle obediently shifted her position so that she was running a few feet behind the king. Hitomi didn't move.

"Are you serious? You can't take on all of these by yourself." She hissed, her green eyes wide with disbelief.

Van flashed an angry look at her. "What's this? Shouldn't you be busy worrying about your own hide, Hitomi?"

The time for conversation was over. Their group collided into the soldiers. The raven-haired man immediately set to work with his royal sword, running the blade through anyone who got into his way while Merle practically clung to his back, hissing at anyone who got too close. During the fight, however, Van had lost sight of the Thief. Now he could see her clearly, and he almost stopped in the midst of the battle at what he witnessed.

Hitomi was easily dispatching soldiers, using her limbs alone. It was almost graceful, in Van's eyes. A spinning kick sent one man to the ground, then, using the momentum from the kick, Hitomi went into a back hand-spring, pushing from the floor to send her feet into the groin of another soldier. The most disturbing thing was that even while her eyes were narrowed in concentration, the girl seemed to be almost smiling.

There eventually seemed to be only one man left. A simple downwards slash with Van's sword ended his life. "Done, now..."

Merle suddenly screamed. "Van, behind us!"

Van had barely turned to see the red, sweaty of the older man before a black blur swept up behind him and the soldier flew off to the side. Hitomi nimbly landed back on her feet, shaking away the pain of the spinning kick from her foot.

Seeing the absolutely flabbergasted look on the king's face, Kanzaki began laughing. "Don't look so surprised, Van. There's a reason why you weren't able to catch The Thief all eight or so times back at Fanelia. I can take care of myself."

She gave him a brief punch on the shoulder as she walked past, careful skipping around the bodies. "You coming or what?"

Snarling in anger and wishing away the flush from his cheeks, Van stalked after her with a perplexed Merle in two. _That Hitomi... _

**.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.**

Hitomi snickered to herself, feeling a ton better since that fight. She committed Van's face to memory. _In case I ever need a laugh. Whoo, priceless._

The Thief had made her appearance again, taking over shy Hitomi Kanzaki to, well, take out the soldiers. It felt amazing. Maybe, though... maybe it was time to blend the Thief and Hitomi into one. Kanzaki could have used the spine booster.

Her spirit rose as the hangar came into view. _We're almost out!_

Once again, she spoke too soon. She had almost forgotten about Folken.

The teal-haired man was standing on the second floor, just past the railings, looking down at the trio. "Van!"

The Fanelian king stopped in his tracks, his eyes flying to the man above. There was no mistaking that voice. "B-brother?"

"Van, stop this slaughter." Folken intoned emotionlessly. "Join me. Join Zaibach."

Hitomi glanced over at the young king. He looked partially horrified as the realization dawned on him. Van walked out of the hangar doorway, directly into the open.

"Brother! What... why are you with Zaibach? How could you destroy Fanelia! You-" He choked slightly, his knuckles that were gripping the sword become white. "-you traitor!"

"... I see." The older brother stared down for a second longer before turning and walking into the shadows.

"Brother! Brother, come back!" Van cried, now furious.

Merle's ears dropped. "Oh, Van-sama..."

Hitomi could only watch as Fanel's shoulders began shaking. She didn't know what to say. But as she prepared to walk forward, her vision clouded over with a disturbing image. Her pendant glowed back into life as, in her mind's eye, Hitomi witnessed the red-eyed albino rush forward from the shadows, his naked sword bearing down on Van, whose back was turned. She saw blood.

Without thinking, Hitomi screamed, trying to shake off the premonition. "Van, behind you!"

Merle shrieked with fear and Van gasped, spinning on his heel, throwing up his blade at the last second as Dilandau Albatou dashed out of nowhere, bringing his sword in a downwards slash at Van. The two weapons collided and sparks flew between the two teens.

"Van Fanel..." Dilandau spit out, "I should have killed you when I had the chance at the waterfall! And I would have, if Folken hadn't decided to spare his little brother's life."

"Shut up!" Van snarled, pushed the albino away as he lashed out with his sword.

Time seemed to slow as a soft ripping noise filled the empty hangar. Blood splattered across the floor, and a few strands of pale white hair floated down gently to land in the red liquid.

"MY FACE! My beautiful face! You've ruined my face!"

Hitomi flinched at the agony-filled wail, watching almost in avid fascination as Dilandau, whimpering, collapsed to the floor, pressing both of his hands to the deep slash on his cheek. Blood was gently trickling through his fingers as he began screaming again. "My face!"

"Let's go! Hitomi! Merle!" Grabbing Hitomi's hand, the closet person to him, Van wasted no time in running out from the side-hangar. They still had a bit to go, as the main landing area was split into dozens of sections.

Hitomi was startled into getting dragged along. Van's fingers had latched tightly onto hers. She flushed slightly, grumbling to herself about his bossy attitude, but nevertheless, she kept up the pace with him. Merle had resorted to all four paws to keep up.

The smaller guymelef storage areas were filled with dead or unconscious men. As the three ran, the distant clashes of swords and battle cries increased in volume. It seemed like forever, but they finally dashed out into the main hangar. Allen and his men were already there, holding off the remaining Zaibach soldiers.

The blonde noticed their arrival almost immediately. "Van! Hurry up; we're getting out of here!"

Van, Merle, and Hitomi joined the rest of Allen's men. Hitomi noticed that the bridge leading back to the Crusade wasn't extended out to the floating fortress. "What about the bridge?"

The nearest man, named Kyo, if Hitomi could remember correctly, glanced over at her. "We always pull it back when we're invading an area, in case the enemy wants to sneak on, but the only man we left to watch the ship was shot off with arrows. We have no way of getting back on yet!"

Van snorted, surveying the situation. The amount of enemy soldiers had died out and the remainders were currently being finished off by the bounty hunters. There were only a couple left. "Perfect. So we're stuck here?"

"I've got an idea!" Hitomi said excitedly. "Just give me some room."

"Wh-what are you planning on doing?" asked Merle, watching the other girl back up. "You're not going to jump or something, are you? That's way too far, you'll get squashed!"

The Thief was busy measuring out the perfect distance for a running start. "I'll try my best not to get squashed." she muttered, taking a deep breath before bursting forward. As Hitomi flew by Van, he gasped, unaware of her plan.

"Hitomi, wait, what are you doing?"

Giving out a brief yell, Hitomi pushed off from the edge of the hangar exit with all of her remaining strength, throwing herself across the great expanse of nothingness. She didn't dare to look down, keeping her eyes directly on the Crusade that seemed to be practically miles away as she flew. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." She whispered, pushing forward.

Against all odds, the girl made it. Skidding along the floor of the Crusade, she just managed to smack the button to extend the bridge before stumbling, falling, and continuing her journey by sliding along the metallic surface, finally thudding into the foot of the Escaflowne. Panting heavily, she ignored the pain in her shoulder from the impact and stared up at the ceiling instead, trying to catch her breath as cheering started up from outside. "... ow."

Allen's men raced back to the Crusade and within seconds, the hangar doors were shut and they were flying off. Mission accomplished.

"That was some jump, Hitomi." A low voice from above laughed softly. _Allen_. He extended a hand, helping her up. The thief eagerly grasped his hand, stumbling back onto her feet.

"Where are we going now?"

"Our destination now is Asturia." Allen replied. "Are you alright?"

Hitomi didn't miss the concerned look in his sea-blue eyes as he studied her face. Her stomach, at that moment, decided to fill with acrobatic butterflies. "Uh, fine..."

The romantic moment was doomed to be ruined, however. Merle pounced on Hitomi from behind. "You stupid girl, what were you thinking? You could have died!"

"Yeah, you're welcome, you stupid cat!"

Still... Asturia. As Hitomi tried to rip Merle off of her head, she couldn't help but wonder what the city by the sea would have to offer for her next.


End file.
